


Canis Nocturna

by Thornyrose13



Series: Harry in Slytherin [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Slight Dumbledore Bashing, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2020-05-18 21:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19343263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thornyrose13/pseuds/Thornyrose13
Summary: An explosive evening cuts Harry's summer with the Dursley's short. A year filled with crazy murderers escaping from Azkaban, secrets amongst friends and lots and lots of magic. One thing is certain, Harry and his friends won't be having a boring year.





	1. Chapter 1: Not a normal day

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,
> 
> I know it's been ages since I've uploaded, but I just want to let you know I haven't given up on this series yet. I'll do my best to finish the book asap, but the uploads will be slow. I hope you guys enjoy it at least 
> 
> Much of love!

It was a dark and cold night for the end of July. The north-east wind cut straight into his face as he pulled his coat closer around himself. The brick houses were dimly lit by streetlights that didn’t seem that trustworthy as they flickered in the cold night air. The smell of the dirty river made him scrunch his nose as he spotted the door he needed. He knocked and waited until the door opened.

“Severus.” Amalyricus greeted the other man. “Thanks for having me here on such short notice.”

“Come on in, Amalyricus. Tea is served.” Severus Snape opened the door further to let him in and Amalyricus joined him in the house. He was lead into his living-room and took the tea that the Potion Master offered him.  “How is Theodore?” The question was accompanied with an intense gaze.

“He’s dealing with it rather well.” Amalyricus said. “Although he hasn’t seen his friends this whole summer… Which might mean he isn’t actually dealing with it that good.” He muttered in an afterthought.

“You want me to look after him at school? Is that why you’re here?” Snape asked, looking at his eldest friend. “You know I have to tell…”

“No Dumbledore.” Amalyricus said, standing up and pacing through the living room.  

“He is the headmaster Amalyricus.” Severus sighed. “What do you expect from me? To keep it a secret from the headmaster? And from all the teachers?”  

“As long as you try to withhold this information as long as possible from the manipulative bastard, I’m up for everything.” He hesitated for a moment. “So, if you want to get Minerva involved, I suppose we can do that. But only because she’s your soulmate and would never betray you.”

Snape looked at the other man, cocking his head in thoughts. Soulmates weren’t always romantic in the wizarding world. Soulmates were people whose magic balanced out your own and made it stronger if you worked together. In the old ages, they often were accompanied by marriage, which might be the reason people started to think of it as some romantic crap.

“I’m glad you think of it like this, because she’s waiting upstairs.” The other man spoke, standing up.

“She has been waiting upstairs?” He asked surprised.

“Well, it’s Sunday. She always comes over on Sunday and she was already here when you made that floo-call.”

“I see.” Amalyricus said, being secretly amused with the thought of Minerva and Severus having dinner together.

Snape left the room to go and get her and Amalyricus sat back down, sipping from the tea Severus had given him. That’s when he heard talking coming from upstairs and Minerva’s shock when she heard what had happened to his son. He was glad he didn’t have to tell the story again.

“Amalyricus.” Minerva entered the living-room and gave him a small smile. He was actually surprised to see her wearing casual clothes.

“Hello there, Miauwnerva.” He greeted, grabbing back to his old nickname for her.

“Always such a joy.” Minerva muttered, but she had trouble keeping the smile away from her face. The smile faltered though when she came to business. “Severus just explained to me why you need our help.”  

“Yes, I do need your help. Theo still wants to go to school, even with his… condition.”

“Well, I’m sure we can help you if we tell…”

“No Dumbledore.” Amalyricus said for the second time that night.

“I know. Severus told me. I was gonna say we need to inform Pomona and Fillius and have to make up some kind of excuse for the other teachers…  A Bloodcurse has been proven to work?”

“You’re gonna use the Bloodcurse?” Severus asked through gritted teeth. “Does that mean you’re gonna ask ‘ _him_ ’ for help too?”

“No need to be bitter, Severus.” Minerva muttered. “He might be exactly what we need.” She got a thoughtful look on her face. “Let me get back to you, Amalyricus. I need to make a floo-call and motivate why we should hire him without making Dumbledore suspicious.”

“Hire him? Minerva, you can’t be serious?!” But she was already out of the room towards the bedroom upstairs so she could lit the fire. “Amalyricus, I’m gonna be back in a minute… I need to talk to Minerva.”

And that’s how Amalyricus waited for fifteen minutes, to see a sour looking Severus return and inform him they got the ‘ _perfect_ ’ person to help his son.

.               .               .               .               .               .               .

It wasn’t a normal day in Little Whinging, the fat lady who came floating out of the garden of Privet drive number four was the living proof of that. The reason of this living balloon came storming out of the house, being followed by his uncle who was raging.

“COME BACK IN HERE!” He bellowed in anger. “COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!”

Harry didn’t want to hear it though, a burning rage blinding him. The woman was veil and just and so were the Dursleys.

“She deserved it!” He growled at his uncle, his wand pointed in his direction. “She had it coming for ages and you’re lucky I am not hexing you too!”

“IF YOU LEAVE NOW YOU’RE NOT WELCOME HERE ANYMORE!” Uncle Vernon screamed angrily at the boy who was standing on the street, his trunk at his feet.

“I DON’T CARE! I SHOULD’VE LEFT AGES AGO!” Harry roared as he stormed off out in the dark, quiet street, heaving his heavy trunk behind him, Hedwig’s cage under his arm. He was several streets away before he collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from dragging his heavy trunk so far. He sat quiet on the edge of the wall, his anger still raging through him as he kicked a stone away. The only sound he heard was the loud thumping of his heart and the blood he heard thumping in his ears. This was the first time he had lost his temper and actually did some accidental magic ever since the snake incident in the summer before his first year. Slowly the consequences of his actions started to dawn on him. He had performed magic outside Hogwarts, he had broken the statue of secrecy and the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry! They were probably gonna expel him, and that would be them going easy on him.

The panic started racing through his veins now. Whichever way he looked at it, he had never been in anything this bad. He was stranded, all alone in the dark in the muggle world and had nowhere to go. The only place he could think of was the Zabini mansion, but that was on the other side of England. He had no way of getting there. Maybe he could send Hedwig that way and ask Blaise if they might be able to pick him up, he could pay for that. He had money enough. He quickly opened his trunk and looked for some parchment and a quill. If someone knew what to do, it was Fina. She was a lawyer after all. He really hoped he wasn’t gonna get arrested. His thoughts went to his friends as he stumbled upon their birthday gifts in his trunk. He missed them, he had missed them this whole summer. He had barely heard anything from Theo, Hermione was in France till the last week of summer and Blaise had been begging him to come over but for some reason his uncle and aunt didn’t let him. They didn’t make much sense most of the time he thought. He finally found the parchment and his quill and quickly scrabbled a letter to Blaise. He turned over to Hedwig’s cage and cursed loudly. Now he probably should have thought of the fact that he had send Hedwig to Blaise already since he had planned to be on his best muggle behaviour, because he had no way to actually send the letter. He groaned in frustration. Salazar what was he gonna do?! He threw his inkbottle back in his trunk and the parchment followed. He picked up his wand again and looked at it. Maybe he could fly to London… He had his broom with him already and with his invisibility cloak and a simple spell he might be able to take his trunk with him. He broke the law once already… why not do it again? He didn’t have any muggle money to do it the legal way, and the small amount of wizarding money he had left had no use here. So, the only thing left for him to do was flying to London, getting all his money out of the vault and find a way to contact Blaise and Fina so they could help him find a way not to be cast out of the wizarding society and get his wand snapped.  
He opened his trunk again, looking for his invisibility cloak, when a sudden funny prickling on the back of his neck made him feel as if he was being watched. He straightened himself up and looked around himself. The street seemed to be deserted and no light shone out of any of the big square houses. He bent over his trunk again but straightened up immediately. He had sensed, rather than heard something or someone was watching him.

“Lumos” He whispered, and a light appeared at the end of his wand, almost blinding him. He held it high over his head and the pebbled-dashed wall of number two suddenly sparkled; the garage door gleamed and between them Harry saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes. Harry took a step backwards as the huge thing took a step forwards following him and stepping in the light. To his surprise, it was a big, no a giant, black dog that greeted him with a shy tapping of his tail and a slight cocking of its head. Harry hesitated a moment before taking a step closer and crouching down in front of the black dog.

“Hi there.” He greeted, reaching out towards the dog to let him sniff his hand. When it did and came closer to lick him in the face, Harry couldn’t keep himself from chuckling. “You know, normally I’m not fond of dogs, Aunt Marge always set them free on me and once even made me climb in a tree to hide from one of them, falling out of it and breaking something. But well, today I kinda got back to her by turning her into a giant balloon.”

He could swear the dog started laughing when he told him that. The barking sounded loud in the silent night and Harry petted him on the head to quiet him down a bit.

“Ssssht, the last thing we want is me having to explain to the muggle cops why I have a big ass giant dog and a trunk filled with spell-books.” The dog quiet down a bit and looked up at him with sparkling eyes. “So, I still don’t know you’re name.” He muttered, scratching the dog under his chin, getting himself a happy tapping of his tail. “Is it… Blackie?” He asked, keeping a close look at the dog to see any form of recognition. The dog didn’t seem to like that name as it shook his head and scrunched his nose. “Okay, so no Blackie.” The boy said. “What about Max?” The dog shook his head again and Harry couldn’t keep himself from being amused with the faces the dog pulled. After some more failed name-guessing, the boy sighed. “Can’t you help me out here?”

The dog barked and padded the ground with his paw.

“Is that a hint?” Harry asked, watching it closely. “Or do you just enjoy padding the ground with your paw?”

The dog barked once and looked at the boy intensely.

“Please tell me your name isn’t Padpaw.” Harry said, scrunching his nose. “Padfoot would’ve sounded much better than that.”

The dog barked enthusiastically and Harry had to shush him down before any of the neighbours would hear them and send the police to arrest them. 

“Your name is Padpaw?” Both him and the dog scrunched their nose at that so he guessed it wasn’t that name. “Padfoot then?” The dog barked twice, not too loud this time and Harry smiled. “Padfoot it is then.” He looked at his luggage and sighed. Sure, he knew the name of the dog now, but he still didn’t know how to get to Blaise. Oh, why had he tried to impress his uncle, it never worked! Padfoot nudged Harry with his head and whined a bit. He didn’t seem to like that the boy was so sad. “Oh Padfoot, what am I gonna do? I have no way of getting us both to Blaise with my broom. That is, if you want to come of course. I would totally understand if you have a loving house to get back too.” The black dog just nudged his arm again and Harry smiled. “How I wish dogs could talk.” When Padfoot nudged his hand this time, the one he was holding his wand in, it was pointed at the street and a loud BANG made him jump in the air. He covered his eyes against the bright light that had accompanied the loud noise. A second later, a gigantic pair of wheels and headlights screeched to a halt, right in front of Harry and the dog. They belonged to a triple-decker, violently purple bus, that had appeared out of nowhere. Gold lettering over the windshield spelled The Knight Bus.  
Harry’s mouth fell open and he looked down at the dog.

“Did you… did you know this was gonna happen?” He asked.

The dog didn’t get a chance to answer though, seeing that a conductor dressed in a purple uniform leapt out of the bus and started speaking to the night air.

“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening.” The conductor stopped talking and looked at the teen in front of him, noticing the scar on his head and the big, black dog at his side. ““Woss that on your ’ead?” said Stan abruptly.

“Nothing,” said Harry quickly, flattening his hair over his scar. If the Ministry of Magic was looking for him, he didn’t want to make it too easy for them. He first needed to talk to Fina and figure out a strategy.

“Woss your name?” Stan persisted.

“Draco Malfoy.” Harry said the first name coming to mind. He could slap himself for the head. Malfoy?! He couldn’t pick anyone who looked less like him. And apparently Stan was thinking the same thing.

“Draco Malfoy?” He asked, pulling up his brow. “Don’t the Malfoys have blond hair?”

Harry hesitated a moment before he decided to get his inner pureblood out. He knew Malfoy long enough to act just like him. He straightened his back, lifted his chin and frowned.

“Are you questioning me?” He hissed. He felt guilty the moment he saw Stan’s face fell and the teen straightening his back, but necessity is the mother of invention.

“No, of course not Mr. Malfoy.” He spoke professionally.

“You said this bus goes anywhere?” The boy said, still keeping up his appearance of pureblood but deciding on playing as nice as possible.

“Yep,” said Stan proudly, “anywhere you like, long’s it’s on land. Can’t do nuffink underwater. ’Ere,” he said, looking suspicious again, “you did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand ’and, dincha?”

“Obviously.” Harry said coldly. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here now, dincha?”

“I suppose not.” Stan said. “Where d’you wanna go?”

“Zabini Mansion, Wessex. You know where that is?” The boy looked up at the conductor.

“Ernie know where that is.” Stan answered. “That’s 20 sickles. but for 25 you get ’ot chocolate, and for 30 you get an ’ot water bottle an’ a toothbrush in the colour of your choice.”

Harry took out his money and counted the gold out in his hand before taking his luggage and handing it to Stan who stacked them away under the bed just behind the driver. “Might wanna put ya dog on a leach.” He said, looking at the giant animal next to Harry.

“He’ll be fine.” Was all Harry said before entering the bus. Padfoot jumped on the bed and Harry decided to follow him and sit down next to the giant, black dog.

“This is our driver, Ernie Prang. This is Draco Malfoy, Ern.”

Ernie Prang, an elderly wizard wearing very thick glasses, nodded to Harry. He was seated in an armchair in front of the steering wheel.

“Take ’er away, Ern,” said Stan, sitting down in the armchair next to Ernie’s.

There was another tremendous BANG, and the next moment Harry found himself flat on his bed, thrown backward by the speed of the Knight Bus. Padfoot seemed to have been prepared for it and barked once, Harry being sure he was amused with his bumbling around.   Pulling himself up, Harry stared out of the dark window and saw that they were now bowling along a completely different street. Stan was watching Harry’s stunned face with great enjoyment.

“Never took the bus, I’m sure, Mr. Malfoy.” It was clear Stan thought he was too much of a Pureblood supremacy to ever be amongst the normal peasants. Probably came with Malfoy name… “This is where we were before you flagged us down,” he said. “Where are we, Ern? Somewhere in Wales?”

 

“Ar,” said Ernie.

 

“How come the Muggles don’t hear the bus?” asked Harry, still taking in the quick changing   
  
“Them!” said Stan contemptuously. “Don’ listen properly, do they? Don’ look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don’.”

“Best go wake up Madam Marsh, Stan,” said Ern. “We’ll be in Abergavenny in a minute.”

Stan passed Harry’s bed and disappeared up a narrow wooden staircase. A nervous feeling had come over Harry, Ernie didn’t seem to have mastered the use of a steering wheel. The Knight Bus kept mounting the pavement, but it didn’t hit anything; lines of lampposts, mailboxes, and trash cans jumped out of its way as it approached and back into position once it had passed.

Stan came back downstairs, followed by a faintly green witch wrapped in a traveling cloak.

“’Ere you go, Madam Marsh,” said Stan happily as Ern stamped on the brake and the beds slid a foot or so toward the front of the bus. Madam Marsh clamped a handkerchief to her mouth and tottered down the steps. Stan threw her bag out after her and rammed the doors shut; there was another loud BANG, and they were thundering down a narrow country lane, trees leaping out of the way.

Harry wouldn’t have been able to sleep even if he had been traveling on a bus that didn’t keep banging loudly and jumping a hundred miles at a time. His stomach churned as he fell back to wondering what was going to happen to him, and whether the Dursleys had managed to get Aunt Marge off the ceiling yet. He really should work on his temper. He could already imagine Blaise’s scoffing and Daphne telling him that that wasn’t how a Slytherin was supposed to behave. Hermione and Theo would probably be very worried. He just hoped Malfoy wouldn’t find out he had used his name on the bus, he wouldn’t hear the end of it then.

Stan had unfurled a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and was now reading with his tongue between his teeth. A large photograph of a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair blinked slowly at Harry from the front page. He looked strangely familiar.

“That man!” Harry said, forgetting his troubles for a moment. “He was on the Muggle news!”

Stanley turned to the front page and chuckled.

“Sirius Black,” He said, nodding. “’Course ’e was on the Muggle news, Mr. Malfoy, where you been?” He gave a superior sort of chuckle at the blank look on Harry’s face, removed the front page, and handed it to Harry. “You oughta read the papers more.”

Harry held the paper up to the candlelight and read:

 

BLACK STILL AT LARGE

_Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today._

_“We are doing all we can to recapture Black,” said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, “and we beg the magical community to remain calm.”_

_Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis._

_“Well, really, I had to, don’t you know,” said an irritable Fudge. “Black is mad. He’s a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister’s assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black’s true identity to anyone. And let’s face it — who’d believe him if he did?”_

_While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse._

 

Harry looked into the shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of the sunken face that seemed alive. Harry had never met a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one.

“Scary-lookin’ fing, inee?” said Stan, who had been watching Harry read.

“He murdered thirteen people?” said Harry, handing the page back to Stan, “with one curse?”

“Yep,” said Stan, “in front of witnesses an’ all. Broad daylight.  Big trouble it caused, dinnit, Ern?”

“Ar,” said Ern darkly.

Padfoot wined a bit and Harry looked at the black dog.

“It’s alright boy, we’re gonna be alright.”

Stan told him the story about how Black was a big supporter of You Know Who and how he supposingly was the second in command. That he had gone crazy when You Know Who had been defeated by little Harry Potter and how he had killed all those muggles. How he had only laughed when the Ministry had captured him and send to Azkaban. Throughout the whole story, Padfoot had turned more and more miserable and quiet. Harry noticed it and padded his head quietly.

“An’ now ’e’s out,” said Stan, examining the newspaper picture of Black’s gaunt face again. “Never been a breakout from Azkaban before, ’as there, Ern? Beats me ’ow ’e did it. Frightenin’, eh? Mind, I don’t fancy ’is chances against them Azkaban guards, eh, Ern?”

Ernie suddenly shivered.

“Talk about summat else, Stan, there’s a good lad. Them Azkaban guards give me the collywobbles.”

Stan put the paper away reluctantly, and Harry leaned against the window of the Knight Bus, feeling worse than ever. He couldn’t help imagining what Stan might be telling his passengers in a few nights’ time.

“’Ear about that ’Arry Potter? Blew up ’is aunt! We ’ad ’im ’ere on the Knight Bus, di’n’t we, Ern? ’E was tryin’ to run for it…”

He had broken the wizard law just like Sirius Black. Was inflating your aunt bad enough to land him in Azkaban?  Fina wouldn’t let him end up, there right? And neither would his friends. Harry didn’t know anything about Azkaban, but he remembered Hagrid who had spent two months there only last year. He hadn’t forgotten the look of terror on the gamekeeper’s face when he had been told where he was going, and Hagrid was one of the bravest people Harry knew.

The Knight bus rolled through the streets of England and warlock after warlock left the bus, all seeming very happy about it. Harry could imagine why. It was that he already felt so miserable, otherwise he probably would’ve payed more attention to his stomach pain. Now he was just trying to cheer up his new-found dog. But for some reason that didn’t work entirely. He tapped his tail slowly when Harry scratched him behind his ear, but that was all Harry got. After a while, Harry was the last one in the bus and he saw the sight outside change from city to more nature. The sea-sight he had seen a few minutes ago had now changed into a forest and Harry knew they were almost there. Ern slammed on the brakes and the Knight Bus skidded to a halt in front of Ill Palazzo Zabini.

“Thanks,” Harry said to Ern.

He jumped down the steps and helped Stan lower his trunk and Hedwig’s cage onto the pavement. Padfoot followed him down as well and looked around himself as if he was taking in the view.

“Well,” said Harry. “’Bye then!”

But Stan wasn’t paying attention. Still standing in the doorway to the bus, he was goggling the stairs that went up to the front door of Blaise’s home. Harry wasn’t surprised. He had been ogling the house, well… mansion, the same way the first time he had seen it.

“There you are, Harry,” This voice did surprise him.  Before Harry could turn, he felt a hand on his shoulder. At the same time, Stan shouted:

“Blimey! Ern, come ’ere! Come ’ere!”

Harry looked up at the owner of the hand on his shoulder and felt a bucketful of ice cascade into his stomach — he had walked right into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself. Padfoot gave Harry’s hand a reassuring lick.

Stan leapt onto the pavement beside them.

“What didja call Mr. Malfoy, Minister?” he said excitedly.

Fudge, a portly little man in a long, pinstriped cloak, looked cold and exhausted.

“Malfoy?” he repeated, frowning. “This is Harry Potter.”

“I don’t see how this is any of their business, Minister.” Fina stepped forwards and looked at Stan and Ern. “You are dismissed.”

Ern didn’t seem to mind Fina’s behaviour, as if he had expected it, but Stan seemed to be stepped on his toes, muttering something about pureblood supremacists. Harry didn’t hear anything else Stan was muttering because Fudge increased the pressure on his shoulder and lead him into the mansion towards the drawing room.

“Thank you Mrs. Zabini, I can manage from here.” Fudge said, trying to dismiss Fina.

“It’s Miss Zabini.” Fina said coldly. “And I’m staying with you to make sure all Harry’s rights are respected.”

The cold bucket of water that had seemed to have fallen on Harry the moment he had noticed Fudge was here and all the fear he had felt about going to Azkaban and losing his friends seemed to lessen the moment Fina placed her hand on Harry’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

The house-elves brought in Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s cage, but they were the only familiar faces he saw. There was no trace of Blaise or Ella. Padfoot had followed them into the house and Fina pulled up a single perfectly manicured eyebrow at the giant, black dog but didn’t comment on it yet. That was a matter for later.

Fina closed the door of the drawing room after Padfoot had come in, nervously following Harry everywhere he went, and gestured for everyone to sit down at the table.

“Bella, get us some tea.” She said before looking at Fudge with a cold stare. “Ask him whatever you want to ask, tell him whatever you want to tell him, but remember he’s an underage child and those charges about him blowing up his aunt aren’t gonna stand a chance in court.”

“We have worse things to worry about than some accidental magic.” Fudge said, looking at the raven-haired boy who was sitting next to the raven-haired woman who send out an overprotective aura. “I’m sure we can just erase those complaints against him.”

“I’d like to have that on paper.” Fina said.

“Of course.” Fudge said. “Now, let’s get down to business.” His attention shot towards Harry. “I’m Cornelius Fudge, Harry. The ministry of Magic.”

Harry knew this already, of course. He had seen Fudge in the Daily Prophet more than once – being a Slytherin meant you had to stay up to date with the news according to his friends – and he wondered who Fudge thought that he was… Bella reappeared with the tea and put it in front of the guests on the table.

“Can Bella do anything else?” The little elf asked.

“That’s all for now, Bella.” Fina said, dismissing the elf and bringing her attention back to the Minister.

“Well, Harry,” said Fudge, pouring out tea for everyone, “You’ve had us all in a right flap, I don’t mind telling you. Running away from your aunt and uncle’s house like that! We’d started to think . . . but you’re safe, and that’s what matters.”

Harry looked at the minister more than a bit perplexed. He still couldn’t believe Fina had gotten the charges dismissed this easily, especially not after the warning he had gotten after Dobby’s little trick last year.

“What happened to Aunt Marge?” Harry asked, thinking that him showing he cared wouldn’t hurt his case either.

“You will be pleased to hear that we have dealt with the unfortunate blowing-up of your aunt. Two members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad were dispatched to Privet Drive a few hours ago. Miss Dursley has been punctured and her memory has been modified. She has no recollection of the incident at all. So that’s that, and no harm done.”

Fudge didn’t stop smiling at Harry over his teacup, rather like an uncle surveying a favourite nephew. Harry knew he should feel happy that Aunt Marge was fine, but if he was really honest he wouldn’t have mind her blowing so far away that no one would have found her again.

“What about the aunt and uncle he lives with?” Fina asked, obviously worried about what would happen to Harry once the school year was over.

“Well, I won’t deny that they are extremely angry with Harry, but they are prepared to take him back in next summer as long as he stays at Hogwarts for Christmas and Easter.” Harry finally found his voice again.

“I _always_ stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays,” he said, “and I don’t ever want to go back to Privet Drive.”

“Now, now, I’m sure you’ll feel differently once you’ve calmed down,” said Fudge in a worried tone. “They are your family, after all, and I’m sure you are fond of each other — er — _very_ deep down.”

Fina didn’t seem as sure of that as Fudge was, and gave Harry a look that meant they were gonna talk about this later. Without her saying a word, he knew they were gonna figure it out.

“Well, I guess that was everything, Minister.” Fina said, looking at Harry. “Just sign those papers that you’re gonna erase these complaints against Harry so the boy can go to bed. He looks as if he can use it.”

“Of course, of course.” Fudge said, quickly grabbing a quill to sign the papers without reading them properly. He seemed to wanna get away from them as soon as possible. “I understand Harry will be staying here the last three weeks of Summer?” He looked at Fina who gave him a short nod in response. Fudge left soon after and Fina looked at Harry, her eyes softening a little bit.

“What you did was very dangerous, Harry. Taking off from your family like that. Especially under these circumstances.” Fina said, looking the boy straight in the eye.

“You mean with Black on the loose?” Harry asked, thinking back at the information Stan had given him in the bus just moments earlier. “I didn’t know he was a danger to wizards before I saw his face in the Daily Prophet.”  

“I thought you wouldn’t know everything, Dumbledore has lacked in giving you information about what happened to your parents it seems. Which could have led to tonight being very disastrous.”

Padfoot whined a bit and licked Harry’s hand once more. He must have known how angry and lost the boy felt that moment.

“What has Black to do with my parents?” Harry asked surprised. “It was Voldemort who killed them, Dumbledore told me so much.”

“Yes, the Dark Lord was indeed the one to speak the dead curse, but he couldn’t do that without the betrayal of Black.”

“Betrayal?” Harry asked, looking up at the woman.

Fina seemed to think about what she would do next. Harry was only a thirteen-year-old boy, but he deserved to know what every other wizard knew. He deserved to know why Black was chasing him.

“Harry, what I’m going to tell you now is something a lot of adults wouldn’t approve off. Both the Minister of Magic and Dumbledore would want to keep this knowledge as far away from you as possible. But I think you have the right to know the full story, on one condition.”

“What condition?” Harry asked curiously. He was glad finally one adult in his life wanted to give him knowledge even though it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

“You have to promise to not go after Black after I told you everything. Leave that to the adults for once.”

Harry who didn’t know why he would seek out danger, and who wanted to know more about the thing Dumbledore was trying to keep from him promised without thinking, something he would regret moments later.

“Sirius Black was a close friend of your parents, Harry. He was the best friend and confidant of your father, which led to him being the secret keeper of your parents’ home.” Fina started.

“Secret keeper?” Harry asked, not knowing what she meant.

“A secret keeper is the only person who can allow other people in the house of people who are absconding.” She explained. “Something your parents did when they found out of the threat the Dark Lord meant for them.”

“And Black betrayed them?” Harry asked in disbelieve. How could you betray your best friends?! He would never do anything like that. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even betray Malfoy.

“So is believed.” Fina said a tad hesitant. “They threw Black in Azkaban without any kind of trial and without giving him any chance of explaining himself. You only saw last year what that can do to people.” Harry knew she was talking about Hagrid and Tom Riddle’s accusations that had caused the snapping of his wand while he hadn’t done a thing. “You see, not only his friends were surprised he had betrayed them, the Deatheaters were surprised too. Which is kinda hard to believe seeing that some people voiced that he would be the Dark Lord’s second in command.”

“You don’t seem to believe this version…” Harry noted, looking at Fina. Just the thought of his parents being betrayed by their friend made him feel sick but just the little tad of hope that Fina didn’t believe it made him stay calm.

“I don’t believe in no trial.” She answered. “But… I think that Blaise probably wants to see you. He has been listening to our conversation this whole time for some reason.” With a small flick of her wrist the door flew open and Blaise tumbled in the drawing room, barely managing to stay on his feet. “And about your dog,” She looked down at Padfoot who was biting himself just above his tail. “We’ll talk about what to do with him tomorrow after Bella gave him something against the flees.”

Padfoot barked, seemingly being very insulted with the insinuation of him having flees. But the fact he went back to biting himself where it itched didn’t gave him any bit of credibility.

 “Can I keep him with me, please Fina.” Harry begged. For some reason feeling very connected to the dog.

“Alright kid.” She muttered. “I see you boys in the morning.” That being said she turned around, grabbed the signed papers and left the room.

Blaise and Harry looked at each other for a moment before Padfoot barked and greeted the Italian, ending the silence that had filled the room.

“You alright mate? That was a lot to take in.” Blaise said, looking at his friend, the worry visible in his eyes.

“I don’t really know how to feel right now.” Harry answered, looking how Padfoot licked Blaise’ hand before darting back to Harry. “Did Hedwig arrive well?”

“Yes, she’s in your room. I’m curious what she will think of your new companion.”

“You’re not alone.” Harry muttered, before following Blaise up the stairs towards his room.


	2. Chapter 2: Summer days

The next morning, it was the sun that came through the small strip of the curtains that woke Harry up. He stretched himself out and yawned loudly. He still couldn’t entirely wrap his mind around how they day before had ended. Fina had actually gotten Fudge to erase the blow up of aunt Marge. He jumped out of his bed and quickly made himself presentable, getting help from the over-enthusiastic mirror and a happy dog that kept jumping up at him, making the mirror complain.

“Tuck your shirt in boy, that’s no way for a wizard of your status! And get that mutt of yours to behave and get a haircut.”

Harry quickly tucked his shirt in before making his way downstairs, whistling for Padfoot to follow. The dog had slept at his side the whole night, tossing and turning as if he was haunted by nightmares. Harry couldn’t imagine what the dog had gone through but he knew he was gonna give him a better life. It was past 10am so he expected everyone to be downstairs already, to his surprise it was just Fina.

“Good morning darling.” Fina greeted. “Bella made you some pancakes. And we got some food for the dog as well.” Her eyes shot to Padfoot and she frowned a little bit. “Where did you say you got him from again?”

“I found him on the street.” Harry answered. “We got along straight away.”

“I see.” Fina muttered. “Well, we’re taking him to the vet once you’re done eating, so I’m quickly gonna tell Blaise we’re leaving in a few.”

“Blaise up already?” Harry asked between the bites of his pancake.

“Yes, he’s with Ella. She’s not feeling all too well.” Fina said with a small smile. “He’s reading her a story but he told me to tell you he had to speak to you once we got back.”

“Oh, alright.” Harry said, worry clear on his face.

“You can check in with Ella when we’re back, dear. Just finish your breakfast first.” Fina gave him another quick smile before going up the stairs.

“I hope it’s nothing serious.” Harry muttered, being extremely worried about little Ella, suddenly having lost his appetite. A low bark made him look down on. “Hey there boy, you ready to go?” He scratched him behind his ear and made the dog pad his tail in excitement, a small smile lighting up Harry’s face.

Fina walked back in and saw the untouched pancake on Harry’s plate, her brow raising slightly as she handed him a leach for Padfoot.

“Are you done eating, dear?” She asked.

“Yes, it was very nice.” Harry said, not wanting to insult anyone by not finishing his meal.

“Alright, let’s go then. We’re taking the SUV. Keith is waiting for us already.” She said kindly.

Harry put the leach on Padfoot who barked happily as they went out, obviously thinking they would go for a walk. They walked over to the big, black car and Fina motioned to put Padfoot in the trunk.

“Come on, Padfoot, in the trunk.” Harry said, patting the car. Padfoot merely sat down and looked up at Harry as if he didn’t understand. “In the car, Padfoot.” Harry tried again, pulling on the leach a bit. This only resulted in the dog getting up and walking over towards the door for the backseat, pulling Harry with him.

“What’s up, kiddo?” Fina asked when she saw the dog dragging Harry behind him, a small amused smile lighting up her face.

“Padfoot refuses to go in the trunk.” Harry said with a sigh, looking down at the dog who was swinging his tail happily.

“Let Keith try.” Fina said, motioning for Harry to hand over the leach.

As always when he was standing next to Keith, Harry felt extremely small. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was a half giant like Hagrid. He handed over the leach and watched Keith pulling Padfoot back towards the trunk. When he tried to pick the giant black dog up so he could lift him in, Padfoot darted aside, running in a circle around Keith’s legs and almost making him trip over the leach. Harry suspected the next words that left Keith’s mouth to be curses, but he wasn’t sure, seeing that it had been in a language he didn’t know. It might have been Irish, didn’t Blaise mention something about Keith coming from Ireland?

“Enough.” Fina said, looking down on the dog. “You’re going in the trunk or I’ll kick you out the house and you won’t see Harry again.”

The raven-haired boy looked up surprised, it was a dog, as if that was going to… never mind. He didn’t even have to finish his thoughts because the dog jumped in the trunk without any hesitation, tripping Keith who was still mixed up in the leach. Harry couldn’t keep himself from chuckling at the sight of the giant man lying on the ground, cursing like a sailor.

“No word about this at young Mr. Zabini.” The bodyguard huffed, closing the trunk with a thud and walking over towards the driving side of the SUV and slamming the door shut.

“Blaise will kill me if I don’t tell him this.” Harry said to a closed door.

“Well, you didn’t agree to anything.” Fina singsonged as she walked over towards the backseat.

Harry quickly followed so he could open the door for her. If hanging with the purebloods had taught him anything, it was that good manners were a basic requirement for anyone who wanted to be part of the high elite.    

The trip led them through the forest behind Il Palazzo Zabini and Harry let his eyes wander in the until then unexplored forest. Soon enough he spotted the magical creatures Blaise had told him about to be living behind his house. On a green meadow, some unicorns were grazing and his jaw dropped as he took in their beauty. The only time he had seen such a magnificent animal, had been back in first year. And when something that pure was dying, beauty was the last word that came to mind.

“I see you spotted some of our locals.” Fina said with a gentle smile, following Harry’s gaze. “Artemis has made it his pride to ensure his father’s animals a safe place to stay here in England.” She explained.

“You mean all those unicorns are from one wizard?” Harry asked perplexed.

“The unicorns, the demiguise, the nifflers and bowtruckles. You name them and Newton probably has some of them in this forest. Him and his wife have been very busy protecting and studying all kinds of magical creatures. That’s how we met after all.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked confused.

“Jim and Newton were friends. Him being the best dragon expert from over whole Britain made that Newton and his wife came over quite a lot. Well, that and the fact we have Veela blood running in our family.” She said proudly. “Artemis has taken to his father and is now leading a magical veterinarian. We’re on our way to him now.”

Harry nodded, letting everything sink in. The rest of the trip went by in silence, except for Fina pointing out some magical creatures they passed now and then.

When they drove onto something that could only be a driveway hidden by magical plants that parted as they came near, a gigantic wooden bungalow came into sight. On the porch, a man with long grey hair that was put up in a ponytail, was playing fetch with a very peculiar dog. At first sight, it looked like a regular corgi, but when it took after the ball, Harry noticed its tail looked precisely like one you’d expect on a crocodile.

Keith brought the car to a halt and walked around it to help Fina out. Harry followed quickly, nearly stumbling out of the car and falling face first on the ground, his eyes never leaving the peculiar creature.

“Fina, what a pleasant surprise.” The man spoke, walking over towards the witch and giving her an old-fashioned greeting. “How are Blaise and little Ella?”

While the adults did their greetings, Harry walked towards the trunk to release Padfoot. The dog jumped out of the car, standing still in front of Harry, taking in his surroundings. Things seemed to go alright, until the Crocodog appeared back in the picture, slipping to a halt in front of the veterinarian before he noticed the giant, black dog. It came over, obviously curious to the newcomers, padding its tail happily. Padfoot didn’t seem too pleased with this though, as he took in a protective stance in front of Harry, showing his teeth and growling lowly.

“Heel, Seth.” The old man spoke sternly, making the Crocodog turn back to its master immediately. “That’s quite an interesting dog you have there, young man.”

“Thank you, sir.” Harry spoke, making the giant dog sit down with a soft pull at the leach.

“What is his name?”

“Padfoot, or so he says.” Harry shrugged, petting the dog. In return Padfoot licked his hand before focussing his attention back on the older man.

“What exactly do you mean with ‘so he says’.” Mr. Scamander said, interest more than caught.

“Well, he kinda told me.” Harry filled in Mr. Scamander about how Padfoot had made clear what his name was, and the old wizard listened with interest.

“I see, that sure sounds like a miraculous being.” The old man looked at Padfoot with interest. “Fina, this will take a while for me to examine the… dog. Why don’t you bring the kid home and join me afterwards? I know how interested you are in magical creatures.”

Mr. Scamander and Fina changed a look between each other that went over Harry’s head but she nodded.

“Keith, bring Harry home please. You can come back afterwards. Apparating won’t take too long.”

“Yes Miss Zabini.” The bodyguard said, taking Harry’s arm.

Padfoot whined, looking at Harry with big, pleading eyes. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be left alone. Harry felt for the dog, scratching him behind his ear.

“You’ll see Padfoot again tonight, Harry.” Fina said with a bright smile. “If everything goes according to plan we’ll be home before dinner.”

“Okay..” He said begrudgingly. “See you tonight, boy.”

Harry still didn’t like the feeling of apparating and had to hold on to Keith so he wouldn’t end up face first on the porch when they arrived at Ill palazzo Zabini.

.               .               .               .               .               .               .

“Your mother said you wanted to speak to me,” Harry leaned against the doorframe as he watched his friend who was seated at his desk, scrabbling something on a piece of paper.

“Read this!” Blaise handed him a letter without looking up from whatever it was he was writing.

Harry accepted the letter, recognising Hermione’s writing. He raised a brow at that, a tad surprised. He hadn’t expected them to be writing each other over the summer.

Hey Blaise,

I’d love to come over in August. My parents agreed to let me drop by after our trip to France. That would be around the 17th of August, I hope that’s okay. Is Harry coming as well, and Theo? I still haven’t heard back from him and it is worrying me. What if something happened to him? I know, I know, you think I’m worrying too much, but could you please check in with him for me? I’d appreciate it a great deal.

Lots of love   
Hermione

“You want to discuss her coming over?” He asked, a tad confused as he looked over at Blaise.

“No, you idiot,” the Italian scoffed. “I wanted to know if you had heard anything from Theo. I haven’t told Hermione – since she’s worrying enough already – but I haven’t heard anything from him either, which is weird since he was supposed to drop by when Drake was here.”

“I haven’t no.” The raven haired boy frowned as he let sink in what that meant. “What about Daph, has she heard of him?”

“I was just sending her my reply.” He folded the piece of parchment in two and put it in an envelope, calling for Bella. “Send this off to Miss Greengrass please, and this one to Miss Granger.” He handed over the two letters and thanked the elf as she took off. Harry took in his friend, noting how tired he looked. It seemed as if he hadn’t been sleeping properly for a while now.

“When’s the last time you’ve had a proper night of sleep?”

“About a week ago or so. Ella’s been having a lot of nightmares, she always does when she’s like this… But usually it’s over the winter, not summer.” He rubbed his eyes before rolling his shoulders and stretching his neck.

“What did Daphne say?” He wasn’t sure what to say about Ella, so he settled for continuing the matter of Theo instead. At some point he would have to get his mates mind off of it though, it was obvious the stress was killing him.

“She hasn’t heard of Theo either. But apparently the Notts are out of the country. Her dad does business with Mr Nott and according to Daphne he has taken the whole summer off to go visit the mainland.” He shrugged, trying to play nonchalant. “Maybe our mail hasn’t been reaching him. It is possible that the house-elves have accepted the mail for the time being.”

 “Is that what you told Mione?” It wasn’t clear to who Blaise was trying to convince with that story, but he didn’t believe for a second that the explanation was satisfying to him.

“I told her what Daphne told me.” The sound of whimpering made both boys look up. It seemed as if Ella’s dreamless sleep was being disturbed by nightmares once again. “Why don’t you go to the quidditch field already. I’ll check in with Ella and then join you for a game.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

As Harry went to gather his stuff from his room, Blaise took off towards his little cousin to console her.

.               .               .               .               .               .               .

Fina arrived back with Padfoot around dinner time. Harry and Blaise had spend their afternoon playing quidditch together, Ella staying sound asleep after he had put her back to bed. It had been good for both boys to get their mind of everything. They had lost track of time as well, making Fina coming out to fetch the boys for dinner. She heard them laughing before she spotted them, challenging each other to do tricks with their brooms.

“Are you two hungry?” She asked, looking up at her son and his best friend, smiling at their obvious joy. Padfoot was sitting next to her, following the boys with his eyes, tapping his tail softly. It had been quite the interesting afternoon for Fina, but she had a feeling she had reached a good understanding of what exactly was up with Harry’s new companion, and had decided he was allowed to stay if he was on his best behaviour.

“Oh, hey mum!” Blaise joined her, swiftly followed by Harry who patted his excited dog as he jumped up against him.

“Hi Fina,” he was doing his best to not fall against the ground with the heavy weight of a dog jumping up against him, so Fina forgave him for not doing the proper etiquettes when it came to greeting her. “Does he have the good to stay?” His eyes were big and pleading, and she could tell how badly he wanted her to say yes, so she decided not to keep him waiting any longer.

“He can stay as long as he’s on his best behaviour yes.” She nodded. “And as long as you are too. Come on boys, freshen up and have dinner with me.”

That was something she didn’t have to tell her two teens twice as they raced each other inside, trying to be the first to be decent for a meal. What boys wouldn’t do for a good dinner on their plate.

“Just so you know, you owe me.” She didn’t look down at the dog as she strode back to the house, the dog staying at her heel as a shadow. “Don’t make me regret this, because if you hurt him, I will make you long back for Azkaban.”

A single bark was all the reply she needed for her to know the message had come across.

.               .               .               .               .               .               .

Time flew by at Il Palazzo Zabini, and before the boys knew it summer was almost over and they were meeting Hermione at Diagon Alley before she would be coming with them to stay the last week at Blaise’s. Besides getting a murderous birthday present from Hagrid that tore Fina’s curtains apart – she hadn’t been pleased with that – and had hunted Padfoot all the way down the parlour – the dog seemed even less amused with that than Fina had been with her curtains and he ignored Harry for a full day after the boy caught the book again – their summer had been rather uneventful. With Ella still being under the weather, it was just Keith taking them, Fina looking over the little girl, making the boys promise to stay out of trouble. They did so, thinking it possible even with Draco joining them for the day.

The Leaky Cauldron was crowded as they entered, students from all years scattered over the pub with their family, on their way to get their school supplies.

“There you are!” Hermione flung her arms around Harry for a hug before she gave Blaise one as well, greeting both boys with the same amount of enthusiasm.

“You better not be thinking of giving me a hug, Granger…” Draco joined the three of them, but his sneer didn’t seem as hard as it had been the past two years, and the brunette just shrugged her shoulders.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” She replied without any menace, before turning back to Harry. “Is it true you blew up your aunt this summer?”

Harry’s eyes shot to Blaise who gave him a grin and a shrug, the story was too good not to share in his opinion really.

“I didn’t mean to,” he mumbled, looking down at the ground, “I just lost control and –“

Draco snorted and Blaise chuckled, both thinking it was hilarious.

“It’s not funny you two,” Hermione said sharply. “Honestly, you’re so lucky you didn’t get expelled.”

“Forget expelled, I thought I was gonna be arrested,” mumbled Harry.

“Oh please, like my mum would ever let that happen.” Blaise rolled his eyes at the two of them. “A bit of accidental magic happens to the best of us. Really, Draco once set Snape’s robes on fire when he was having a temper tantrum.”

“Oh shut it, mate,” grumbled the blond as he glared at Blaise.

The four of them made their way into Diagon Alley without any incidents, no one mentioning the obvious lack of a certain classmate as they made their way through the shops, the starting at the apothecary to store up their potion ingredients. Afterwards they went to get their books, which finally solved the mystery of Harry’s curious birthday present since apparently the book was needed for Care for Magical Creatures. Afterwards they went to Madam Malkin’s Robes for all Occasions, since Harry had outgrown his robes from first years by quite a few inches. Draco and Blaise both had theirs made already, so they waited it out with Hermione, quietly chatting about everything and anything. But it was the broom store – cause boys and their brooms had Hermione scoffed, missing Daphne who was still out of the country – that caught the most attention from the little group. A brand new broom was put on display, catching the guys their eyes like fire on a moth.

 

 

 

THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART RACING BROOM SPORTS A STREAM-

LINED, SUPERFINE HANDLE OF ASH, TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH AND HAND-NUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER. EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC

PERFECTION, GIVING THE FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE BALANCE

AND PINPOINT PRECISION. THE FIREBOLT HAS AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND INCORPORATES

AN UNBREAKABLE BRAKING CHARM. PRICE ON REQUEST.

 

“You know it’s way too expensive when it says ‘Price on Request’.” Hermione looked at the broom with a raised brow, as if it could suddenly start flying out of itself and attack her.

“It’s obviously worth it’s price, Granger. It’s the fastest broom around.” Draco said, his eyes glued to the Firebolt as if it was his most precious possession.

Harry had to agree with the young Malfoy heir, resisting the urge to buy himself the broom and to empty his vaults. His Nimbus 2000 had never abandoned him, and after turning down Draco’s offer for a Nimbus 2001 last year, he would never live it down if he bought the Firebolt. Tearing his eyes away from the broom, he looked at Hermione.

“Anything else on your list or do you have everything?”

The girl didn’t even look at the paper as she knew exactly what the last item was on her list.

“Well there is one more thing on my list,” she said. “My parents agreed to give me a pet for my birthday, and I was thinking of maybe getting an owl, since all you guys have one as well.”

“You can always use mine,” Blaise said thoughtfully. “But there is a shop like around the corner, we can check it out now.”

The four of them started walking, and Harry recognised the shop where he had gotten Hedwig back in his first year. There wasn’t much room inside as every inch of the wall was hidden by cages. Draco and Blaise scrunched their noses at the smell and Harry flinched at all the noise. The occupants of the cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing. Since the witch behind the counter was currently busy with another customer, the four of them strolled through the shop. There was something for everyone; enormous purple toads that sat gulping wetly and were feasting on dead blowflies, there was a gigantic tortoise with a jewel-encrusted shell glittering near the window, poisonous orange snails and a fat white rabbit that seemed to be escaped from a magician as it kept changing between a silk top hat and its rabbit form. Then there were cats of every colour, noisy ravens, sleek rats that were playing some sort of skipping game in their cage on the counter. Their attention got caught when something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage, landing on the head of the other customer – that Harry and his friends now realised was Ronald Weasley – before propelling itself, spitting madly, as it took off after the rat that Weasley always carried around.

“NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!” The witch cried out, but the rat shot past the four students who looked at it as in a daze.

“Scabbers!” Weasly shouted as he took off after the rat, pushing the three Slytherins and Hermione out of his way. They stood there for a few seconds, absolutely baffled before losing it in a fit of giggles.

“That was absolutely amazing!” Snorted Blaise.

“That cat obviously has taste!!” Added Draco, clapping his thigh in amusement.

Hermione made her way over to the counter where the woman was trying to calm down the ginger furball. Harry’s eyes followed her and he took in the big cat. Its ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was definitely a bit bowlegged, his face looking grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headfirst into a brick wall. At the memory of that Harry rubbed his ass, thinking back to the fiasco of last year.

“He is absolutely gorgeous,” said Hermione to the witch behind the counter.

“You think so?” The witch asked surprised, looking at the girl in front of her. “He has been here for ages, most people don’t like the rough edges he has.”

You had to be an idiot to not realise that would do it for Hermione. Blaise seemed to be on the same train of thoughts, as he walked over to the counter.

“Do you want him, Mione?” He asked, cocking his head at her.

“Yes, let me get my money!” She said excited.

“No, no. I’ll get it for you, as a birthday present.” The Italian gave her a firm smile, telling her there was no way he was gonna change his mind. “I’d also like the small corn snake over there.” He added, pointing at the red and gold snake that was resting in its cage in the sun.

“No problem, sir.” The witch said happily, putting Crookshanks into a carrier before grabbing the little corn snake and putting that one in a little basket as well. As Blaise dealt with the money, the three others made their way outside to wait there, Hermione beaming at her new cat, and Harry wondering since when Blaise was so much into snakes.

“Here you go, Harry.” The Italian walked outside, handing Harry the little snake. “I thought this would be good for you to practice your parseltongue with. Happy birthday mate.”

Harry opened the box and gently took the little snake out of there.

“ _Hello there,”_ he hissed at the little one. “ _What is your name?”_

“ _My name is Medusa, little Hatchling. It’s been a while since I’ve had a conversation with a human.”_

Harry smiled as he allowed the little snake the nestle in his pocket.

_“Welcome to the family, Medusa.”_

“Ugh, I doubt I’m ever gonna get used to this.” grumbled Draco as he shrugged off his shiver, looking at the raven haired boy and his little red and gold snake in awe.  


	3. AUTHORS NOTE

Hello guys,

 

First of all, I'm sorry, not the next chapter, and I'm sorry for letting you guys down. I am currently working on it but I can't tell for sure when it will be finished. However, I feel like I should give you guys an explenation.

I have been fighting with myself a lot lately, I've not been in the best place and I have been trying to fix that, but so far I haven't succeeded. I have been confronted with toxicity, and I am trying to figure out how to get rid of it, while also trying to figure out how much is my own fault and how to change that. I quit a job that I was unhappy in, I am working on changing up my friendship list and working through family drama. But it just takes a lot of energy, and by the time I get to writing, all I wanna do is sleep.

 

So I'm sorry guys. I won't give up on writing, nor on this story. But please be patient with me. 

 

Love you guys a lot!


	4. Chapter 3: The Dementor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long delay at an update. I'm happy I can post the next one now :3 Enjoy!

They were early at the station, or well, early for what Harry was used to. Thirty minutes before the train left, Harry and his friends had entered platform 9 ¾, leaving them more than enough time to find themselves a place to sit, and to say goodbye to Padfoot – who had started to grow on all of them – little Ella, Fina and the bodyguards.

“Daphne should be here already,” Hermione mentioned as she entered the train, carrying Crookshanks in his carrier. She hadn’t even bothered putting up a fight when all three Slytherin boys had offered to carry her trunk, knowing it to be of no use.

“How would you know?” Draco asked, pulling both his and Hermione’s trunk onto the train, being helped by Blaise who gave hers a final push.

“Merlin Mione, did you bring a whole library?” The Italian huffed, still catching his breath.

“Maybe you’re just out of form.” Harry joked. He was standing next to Hermione and grinned down at his sweaty best friend. Medusa was happily nestled in his front pocket, sound asleep. It had been quite the experience when he had to introduce the little one to Padfoot and Hedwig. His owl – who already had been quite resenting for him bringing a dog into her home – had refused to even look at him for a full day, and asking attention from Blaise instead. Padfoot seemed to be a tad more open to the idea of the little reptile, and Harry had found him playing with her on more than one occasion the last week.

“That’s it, you take the trunk from now on, Potter.” Draco pushed it into Harry’s hands as he barged past him and Hermione, looking for Daphne. Hermione just shrugged at them and followed the young Malfoy heir down the path.

As they made their way across the train, Harry started to doubt if Hermione was actually right, they had started at the beginning of the train, checking all the compartments – some empty but most of them already occupied – without any sign of Daphne.

“There she is.” All the way at the end of the train, standing next to the last compartment, was Daphne Greengrass. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun, something so out of character even Harry pulled up a brow at it, as she paced through the hallway.

“About time.” The girl huffed, giving Hermione a hug before she turned towards the boys. “Theo is in there,” she nodded in the direction of the last compartment. “His dad told my mother where I could find him.” She explained the unspoken question. “He’s quiet, hasn’t said a word since I arrived. Just give him space.”

“Not questioning anything and staying out of trouble?” Draco rolled his eyes, “Sure you’re gonna manage that, golden boy?”

Harry merely scoffed and entered the compartment, grunting as he pulled both his and Hermione’s trunk with him. Draco and Blaise followed smoothly as the girls stayed outside for a moment longer. In contradiction to what Harry had expected, Theo wasn’t alone in the compartment. In there with him was a man seated next to the window, fast asleep. It was odd enough to see an adult here on the train since it was usually reserved for students, but it was even weirder to see one dressed as shabby as this one. His clothes had been darned in several places, and he looked ill and exhausted, his light brown hair already being flecked with grey.

“Hey mate.” The three boys greeted their friend. He seemed to have an off day as well, looking even pale for his doing. “You think you could give us a hand with these trunks? Hermione over there apparently found it necessary to bring the whole library with her.”

“Oh shut it, Potter.” Hermione said playfully as her and Daphne entered the compartment as well. Her eyes shifted to the other occupant of the compartment. “I must say, he seems rather young to be a professor.”

“He’s a professor?” Harry asked surprised.

“Professor Lupin, our new DADA teacher.” Theo’s voice was soft and hoarse, as if he had come down with a bad cold. “Dad’s an old friend of him.”

“Hope he’s not secretly out to kill us then.” Harry joked.

“Or wipe someone’s memory,” Blaise added.

“The man doesn’t even look like he’s up to the job.” Draco said with a shrug, “Doubt he has it in him to kill anyone.”

The more the three boys said, the paler Theo got, and both Hermione and Daphne noticed it.

“Can we leave the killer talk for after dinner, guys?” Daphne intervened. “I, for one, am dying to know what everyone has done this summer.”

They didn’t need more for the subject to change. As the five of them started catching up – or well, Theo mostly listened – time passed by, and by the time Harry had gotten to explain the whole Sirius Black business, the train was well on it’s way to Hogwarts.

At first, the Slytherins had been a tad apprehensive to start talking about the whole business with a stranger in their midst, but after twenty minutes of mindless chattering and catching up, without the teacher as much as stirring a muscle, Harry decided to start talking about the real business.

“You mean to tell me Black is the reason your parents are dead?” Hermione asked, incredulous. She seemed so surprised she didn’t even scolded Harry for only bringing this whole matter up now, after having spend a full week with her at Blaise.

“That’s utter Griffinshit.” Draco said, rolling his eyes. “No way in Circe name would Black ever join the Deatheaters. His whole life he did nothing but trying to get away from his family and their believes. He is seen as a bloodtraitor and even burned off the family tapestry, just like Andromeda after she married that muggle.”

“How-?” Harry and Hermione looked at the young Malfoy heir in confusion, surprised at the inside knowledge he seemed to have about the whole business.

“His mother is a Black.” Daphne explained, shaking her head the lack of knowledge her two friends still seemed to have about the pureblood community. “Remind me to lend you my copy of the Sacred 28, Hermione.” She said in an afterthought.

After a quick nod in Daphne’s direction, Hermione – who was currently seated in between Blaise and Draco, how she had ended up there was a riddle to her as well – turned her attention back to the young Malfoy heir.

“So you don’t think it was Black who betrayed them? How do you explain him being the secret keeper then?” She asked curiously.

“If he betrayed them, it wasn’t voluntarily,” Draco stated, not having the answer to her question. The whole fact that Dumbledore had stated Black had been the secret keeper, was the reason he had been thrown in jail without as much of a trial. If the old buffoon said something, you took it for true; something that was dangerous to do if you asked Draco, since the old man had a habit of speaking in half-truths. “What I’d really like to know is how he got out of Azkaban. To my knowledge he is the first one ever managing that.”

“Wasn’t he a top-security prisoner?” Theo said, his voice soft but obviously intrigued by the whole mystery. Of course the one thing pulling the young Nott heir out of his troubled mind were a mystery that was as good as a game of Wizarding Chess.

“Well, if you figure out how he did it, you can pass some of that knowledge down to me-“ Harry said with a sad sigh. “The Dursley’s didn’t sign my permission to go out to Hogsmeade, and I am not looking forward to having to spend all my time inside of the castle while you guys can go outside and explore.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing you can’t go outside –“

“It might not be that much of a disaster that you have to stay inside of the castle –“

Hermione and Daphne said at the both time. Both girls looked at each other, before Hermione nodded at Daphne to continue. The girl had a way with words like no one else.

“No one knows what is going on with the whole Black thing, and if there is the slightest chance that he might be after you –“ She bit her bottom lip as she noticed Harry’s angered pout, he hated being treated like some precious porcelain.

“We just don’t want you to get hurt.” Hermione backed up her friend.

“Do you all agree?” Harry asked the boys who had stayed out of it for now.

“Well – we don’t want you to get hurt,” Blaise eventually said.

“I don’t think you are in any danger out there, Potter,” Draco shrugged his shoulders, “I’m sure we can scope it out first, and then you can come with us the next time. You have that cloak of yours.”

Before a fight could break out between Hermione and Draco, Daphne intervened.

“I for one would love to check out the village and the Shrieking Shack, did you know the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion? And the Shrieking Shack is rumoured to be one of the most severely haunted places in Britain.”

“I’d skip the last one –“ Theo said, his face once again pale. “Nothing there but ways to end up with tetanus really.”

“Maybe you should drop by at Madam Pomfrey, dude,” it was Blaise who said this, worried about his friend’s health. “Think you might be coming down with the flu.”

“Yeah, I’ll pay her a visit.” The young boy said.

The attention of the compartment was caught by a low, displeased meow, and Hermione helped Crookshanks out of his carrier.

“Who’s this little guy?” Daphne asked, scratching the ginger cat behind his ear. Harry didn’t know why, but for some reasons the girls seemed to be digging his scruffy looks and grumpy demeanour.

“This is Crookshanks, Blaise got him for my birthday,” Hermione said proudly.

“Did he now?” Daphne asked, an amused grin on her face as her eyes travelled to Blaise who merely shrugged his shoulders.

“I got Harry a snake,” He said, as if he were looking for some sort of excuse to why he had done it. It wasn’t too uncommon for Blaise to buy his friends gifts, it was actually quite common amongst the purebloods to give expensive gifts at their friends on birthdays and  other occasions. Like for Theo’s birthday – Draco, Harry and Blaise had but their money together to buy him a new Wizarding Chess set and board, and for Blaise’s birthday – which was on the same day as Theo, the second of September, so tomorrow – the boys had put their money together to buy him a new and exclusive quidditch gear, seeing he’d be trying out for the team this year.

“You got him a snake?” Daphne’s eyes grew wide as she shivered. She had seen enough reptiles in her life if you asked her.

“Yeah, Medusa,” Harry pulled the little corn snake out of his pocket, being greeted with an annoyed hiss as the little girl checked out the compartment.

“ _Is there a reason you woke me up, little hatchling?”_  She hissed, annoyance clear.

“ _Daphne wants to meet you,”_ Harry hissed back, handing the snake to the girl, who accepted her warily.

“She is – interesting?” The girl said, stroking her head gently before handing her back to Harry who put Medusa back in his pocket. Pleased that she was back in her warm, dark hole, the snake curled up once again and dozed off once more.

.              .              .              .              .              .              .

The scenery changed as the Hogwarts Express moved steadily North, now becoming wilder and darker as the clouds overhead thickened. One o’clock prompt, the trolley witch arrived at their compartment.

“Should we wake him up?” Hermione asked, looking at the professor who was still sound asleep. “It looks like he could use some food.”

The group of students collectively looked at Theo, who shook his head.

“I’ll buy him a sandwich for if he wakes up,” the boy spoke softly. He had retreated into himself again as they had spend their morning playing a muggle card game Hermione had thought them, barely being able to keep his eyes open. He seemed to be too tired to even notice the worried glances his friend kept sending his way. This had been the first thing he had said in a couple of hours and as the trolley witch continued her tour through the train, it seemed to be the only thing he would be saying for the next few too.

As the train steadily drove through the wilderness, the rain thickened, turning the windows in a solid, shimmering grey, gradually turning into darkness until the lanterns all along the corridors and above the luggage recks flickered to life.

It didn’t matter how much the train rattled and shook the train, Professor Lupin was still sound asleep, and it seemed that Theo had joined him, his friends having softened their voices as to not wake him up. Only to get a tad more excited when the train started to slow down.

“We can’t be there yet!” Hermione said, checking her watch with a big frown on her face, poking Blaise who was peering out of the window. “What do you see?”

“Nothing, Mione, it is dark out there,” the young wizard spoke as the train slowed down even more, until the only sound to be heard was the one of the rain and wind abusing the train as it stood still on the tracks.

Harry – who was seated closest to the door next to Daphne – got up and peaked his head out of the compartment, seeing several other students doing the same thing. The train came to a jolting stop, nearly throwing Harry of his balance, and without a warning all the lights turned off, leaving them all in a pitch black compartment. A startled yelp from Daphne caught Harry’s attention as he felt his way back towards his seat, relying on the feeling of Daphne’s shoulder as he sat down, so he wouldn’t be causing any trouble.

“Do you think we’ve broken down?” Hermione’s nervous voice broke the tense silence that had filled the compartment. It was obvious that something was off, magical trains didn’t just break down.

A squeaking sound indicated Blaise cleaning the window, so he could pear outside.

“There’s people out there, it looks like they are boarding the train.” He said, surprise clear on his face.

The compartment door suddenly opened, startling it’s inhabitants as an uncertain voice spoke:

“Ron, you here?”

It was Hermione who recognised the voice first.

“Ginny, is that you?” She asked surprised.

“Hermione?” Her voice seemed to grow even smaller as she seemed to realise she had walked into a compartment filled with Slytherins.

“Sit down Weasley, it’s too dangerous to be out there alone.”

Surprising everyone, Draco pulled the girl inside of the compartment, making sure she could squeeze between him and Hermione.

“Malfoy – ow, what are you –“

“Quiet –“ a hoarse voice they hadn’t heard before suddenly spoke. It seemed that professor Lupin had finally woken up.

The students could hear movement from his corner, as they sat there in utter silence. There was a soft, crackling noise before a shivering light filled the compartment, showing the warry faces of the students who were cramped in there. Holding the light source – which appeared to be a handful of flames – was Professor Lupin, who’s tired and grey face housed two very alert and warry eyes.

“Stay where you are,” he ordered them in that same hoarse voice, getting slowly to his feet and making his way through the cramped compartment, the hand filled with fire stretched out in front of him.

However, before the Professor could reach the door, it slid open once again. Illuminated by the shimmering fire in Professor Lupin’s hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. It was hard to tell what exactly they were looking at, since it’s face was  completely hidden by his hood.

Harry’s eyes took in the creature, noticing it’s hand as it darted into vision for a split second. It was obvious they weren’t dealing with a human being, unless it was the bloated remains of a drowned victim, there was nothing human about this thing. It’s skin was a glistening grey, slimy-looking and obviously scabbed. Harry sucked in a breath, placing himself subconsciously between Daphne and the thing, as if he wanted to protect her. From out of the corner of his eye he could see Malfoy do the same for the two other girls. Hermione had Crookshanks in her hands and was pushed all the way against Blaise who had one arm protectively flung around her petite frame. It was clear that he hated being trapped between the girl and the table, all the way in the corner of the compartment. Harry knew his Italian friend, if there was one thing he wanted to do right now, it was protecting his friends.

Before Harry could take in more of the scene, the thing underneath the hood caught his attention once again as it drew a long, slow an rattling breath, as though it wanted to suck something more than air. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest as an intense cold – colder than he’d ever experienced – swept over him. It was the kind of cold that went deeper than your skin, it was all the way down in his chest, catching his heart in an unnerving and unforgivable grip. Drowning in the cold, Harry’s eyes rolled back in his sockets, taking away his view. His ears were filled with rushing which reminded him of water as he was being dragged downwards, the roaring growing louder and louder until…

From far away, he heard screaming; terrible and terrified pleading screams. Every bone in his body wanted to help the person in distress, but he couldn’t move. It was as if his body was caught in ice, a thick, white fog swirling around him, inside him –

“Harry! Harry are you alright?!”

Someone appeared to be slapping his face.

“Wh- what?” He asked in confusion, slowly opening his eyes. The bright light of lanterns above his head welcomed him back into reality, and the shaking ground told him that the Hogwarts Express must’ve started going again. He must’ve slipped of his chair – lost consciousness. Daphne and Hermione were seated next to him on the ground, his head resting in Daphne’s lap it seemed. He closed his eyes again – sickness taking over as he tried to block out all the shocked faces that were staring down at him. By the time he opened his eyes again, and pushed his glasses – who had risen down on his nose – back up, he could feel how his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

“Are you okay Harry?” Daphne asked tentatively, as she and Hermione made room for Draco and Blaise who heaved Harry back up on his seat, seeing that his legs could barely hold him up.

“Yeah –“ Harry spoke, looking down at the ground as he tried to gather his thoughts. “What happened? The hooded creature – that thing, where did it go? Who was screaming?”

“No one screamed, Potter.” Draco spoke finally as the others didn’t know how to respond.

Harry looked around the compartment. Ginny was shivering as Hermione held her in her arms; Blaise and Draco were flanking the girls; Daphne had sat down next to Harry again, this time on the side of the door; and Theo, the poor boy looked paler than Harry himself.

A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking a big slab of chocolate into little pieces, handing them out to everyone. Harry himself got a particular large piece, accompanied by some advice from Professor Lupin.

“Eat, it will help.”

Harry accepted the piece, but didn’t eat it yet. He wanted to know what that thing was. The thing that had turned Theo into a shaking and shivering mess, that had brought Ginny nearly to tears and had made him faint.

“What was that thing?”

“A Dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban.” Professor Lupin spoke, making his way to the door. “Eat, it’ll help. I need to have a word with the driver, excuse me.”

Professor Lupin strolled past the students and disappeared into the corridor, leaving them all by themselves.

Harry was dying to know what had happened, but right now his concern went mostly out to Theo who was still seated in dead silence next to him, the piece of chocolate untouched in his hand. Crookshanks had jumped on his lap as to comfort him, and all eyes were divided between him and Harry himself.

 “Theo, are you alright?” Harry asked, concerned about his friend wellbeing.

“I hate those things.” Theo mumbled. “I really hate them. It’s like all happiness left me. it’s like I was there again.”

“Eat your chocolate, Theo. You can even have mine.” Hermione handed him hers as her worried eyes took him in. “I don’t need it.” She didn’t ask about where he had been again, opting for the direct approach instead. Making sure the boy would be alright instead of making him relive the terrible things he obviously had seen.

“No, no.” The boy shook his head. “You should take it.” He gave it back and pulled the cat of his lap, putting him down on the seat. “I just need some air.” He left the compartment, leaving his friends alone with their worries.

Hermione – obviously getting ready to get up – felt Blaise’s arm on her shoulder.

“Maybe he needs some time alone, Hermione.” Blaise said, keeping her seated.

“Is he going to be alright?” She asked worried.

“He’s not Harry Potter but he will cope.” The Italian said, cracking a joke.  

Harry glared at his friend but was glad at the same time. They were all worried about the brunette who had just left the compartment and Blaise tried to ease them. The small smile playing around Hermione’s lips told him the Italian had succeeded.

“I guess I should bring Ginny to her brothers.” She eventually settled on, looking at the petite red who had released her from the tight hug they had been in.

“I’ll join you,” Blaise spoke, wordlessly agreeing with Draco and Harry that he’d look after the girls as they’d drop Ginny off.

The dementor visit had everyone on edge, and it was obvious they preferred no one being out there on their own. Theo being the one and only exception, since it was obvious he needed his space.

As Blaise, Hermione and Ginny left the compartment, Professor Lupin walked back in. He paused in the door-opening, allowing the three students to pass him by before taking in the compartment. It was only Draco – who sat on the bench alone with an unreadable face – Harry and Daphne left. The last two sitting close to each other on the bench across of Draco.

“I haven’t poisoned that chocolate, you know.” Professor Lupin eventually said.

Harry finally took a bite of it, feeling himself warm up all the way down to his core.

“We’ll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes, you okay Harry?” The Professor asked the boy, an inquisitive lookover accompanying his question.

“Fine,” Harry mumbled a tad embarrassed, not even questioning how Professor Lupin knew his name. It had become quite clear that he would barely ever enjoy being unknown in the wizarding world.

“Where did Mr. Nott go?” The Professor asked, having noticed the young Nott heirs disappearance.

“He needed some air, Professor.” Daphne replied.

“I’ll go and check in with Mr. Nott then,” the Professor said, leaving his students once again to enjoy the rest of their ride to Hogwarts without saying much.

.              .              .              .              .              .              .

By the time the train finally reached Hogsmeade, the group was back together. Not long after Professor Lupin had left them to go look for Theo, Blaise and Hermione had made it back to the compartment, informing them they had dropped Ginny off with the twins, who had been looking for their little sister in the hallway, accompanied by Ronald and Percy Weasley – their newest headboy, hurray…  Theo joined them by the time the train was coming to a halt. He seemed to have a bit more colour on his face again, although that could’ve been due to the cold air leaving his cheek a crimson red.

The group made their way out of the train, accompanied by the many sounds of animals who wanted to be released of their cages. It was enough to wake Medusa – who had actually managed to sleep through the dementor attack, although Harry suspected her of lying about that, since he had felt her tremble in his pocket – once again, and as she popped her head up out of his inside pocket, she disappeared once again inside his pocket, hissing and complaining about the bad English weather. Crookshanks and the owls seemed to join in with the loud cacophony around them.

Huddled together, the group made their way through the freezing and biting rain, waving in Hagrid’s direction as he yelled for the first years to join him. They couldn’t wait for their escape away from the rain. Harry had wondered how the elder years made their way into school. He knew it wasn’t by flying car – curtesy to Weasley – nor by apparating as him and Blaise had done last year. It took him a minute to spot at least a hundred stagecoaches parked on the mud track the whole Hogwarts student body had moved to. Harry couldn’t immediately see anything pulling the carriages, so he assumed it were either pulled by invisible horses or some sort of magic. Quite frankly he couldn’t care less right now. He had met enough new magical creatures for one day.

Claiming a coach, for once Theo was allowed in first before either of the girls even tried to get inside. As they had made it outside the rain and were seated, door closed to the coach, it took of by itself over the muddy trail.

To Harry’s dismay, two hooded Dementors were guarding a magnificent wrought-iron gate. As the hooded creatures stood guard on either side, Harry felt a new wave of sickness come over him.

“If you’re going to throw up, do it out of the window, yeah!” the young Malfoy heir, who was seated across from Harry, spoke. He was looking at the ravenet with warry, not planning on getting anything on his new suit.

Luckily, the carriages seemed to pick up speed once they got past the gate, and before they knew it, they came to a halt in front of the castle. Getting out of the carriages and following the crowd into the castle through the big oak front door, their group reached the torch lit entrance hall that housed the giant marble staircase that lead up to the upper floors.

In front of them – in the direction that the crowd was flooding -   the door to the Great Hall were opened, ready to welcome the students back to for a new year. Harry barely caught side of the enchanted ceiling – which was currently black and cloudy – when a drawling, sneering voice sounded through the entrance hall.

“Potter, Nott, with me!” At the sight of Snape standing there, waiting for him and Theo to join him, Harry’s stomach clenched together. It was never good news when Snape needed him, and worry filled him as Theo and him followed their head of house into his office. Professor Snape wasn’t a man of many words, unless it was to drag Harry through the mud, and with his greasy black hair and pale skin it was often rumoured that he was a vampire. Something that – as far as Harry knew and if what Malfoy told him was true – were nothing but a whole bunch of Griffin shit.

As they entered Snape’s office, Harry had to admit he was surprised to see there was actually a fire burning, which made the office a lot warmer than the dungeons they usually spend their time in. Snape motioned with his hands for them to sit down as Madame Pomfrey made her way into the room.

“Professor Lupin informed us of your – unpleasant – encounter on the train, Mr Potter, Mr Nott. Madame Pomfrey is here to check up on you boys.”

Harry felt himself go red in the face. It was bad enough that he had passed out on the train, he didn’t want people making a fuss about it. They should be worrying about Theo who actually did look ill. But Professor Snape didn’t leave any room for discussions, and to his displeasure, Harry was the first one being checked out. After he had the good to go, he was dismissed to wait outside of the hallway as they checked up on Theo. Harry’s worries must’ve been clear on his face, because the first thing Theo said when he came out of the office was that he was fine. It was clear that the boy didn’t want to discuss what was going on at all, and respecting his friend’s privacy, Harry quietly followed Snape and Theo back into the Great hall where they joined their friends.

“You missed the sorting ceremony,” Daphne said, as they sat down.

“We got like eight Slytherins this year. Not too bad.” Draco mumbled, as his eyes gazed over the table to where the first years had joined each other.

“You boys alright?” Adrian Pucey, new quidditch captain since this year, turned towards the group. “I heard what happened on the train, don’t let it bother you too much, they are nasty creatures to encounter.”

Before any of them could reply to the Slytherin captain, Dumbledore took the word. Every year, Harry seemed to trust the man less and less. As he informed them about the Dementors being stationed at every exit of the grounds, and how they wouldn’t be fooled by trickery like invisibility cloaks, Harry’s attention wavered towards the Gryffindor table, where Hermione – since it was the first day of the year – had joined Ginny and the twins. She cast him a worried look, obviously having been fretting about why he was pulled away by Snape. Casting two thumbs up in her direction, the girl smiled in relief.

After that exchange, Harry brought his attention back to Dumbledore, who had gotten to introducing the new teachers at the table. Teachers, which meant there were more than just Professor Lupin.

“Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

There was a polite applause, the Slytherins for once being the loudest as they had been in the compartment with him.

“If look could kill, Lupin would be dead.” Blaise mumbled, nodding in the direction of Snape who’s glare was even more intense than it had been when Lockhart joined. Actually, it seemed that Snape loathed Professor even more than he loathed Harry. Curious.

“This year we actually have a decent one,” Draco said, for once sticking up for the new DADA teacher instead of his godfather. It seemed Lupin had impressed him earlier.

“As to our second new appointment,” Dumbledore continued after the polite applause had died down, “I am sorry to inform you Professor Kettleburn, our Care for Magical Creatures Professor, retired to spend the rest of his days with his remaining limbs. However,  I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job on top of his gamekeeping duties.”

Stunned by surprise, it took the gang a moment before they realised what had happened, joining in with the loud applause for their favourite half-giant. Even Draco – who still wasn’t the biggest fan of Hagrid – managed a polite applause as he rolled his eyes at his friends’ enthusiasm. One thing was for sure, the next year would be an interesting one.


	5. Chapter 4: Fantastic Beasts

When Harry was woken up by Blaise the next morning, he groaned slightly. It was too early to his liking. The month he had spend at Blaise’s, had been a month of sleeping in and staying up late, a habit that was hard to get rid off in one day. After the welcoming feast, all Slytherins but Theo – who had gone to bed early that night, and hadn’t even made it through dinner – had gathered around the fire to discuss Blaise’s game plan to become the new Slytherin chaser until Adrian had send them off to bed.

“Why are you so cheerful?” Harry asked with a grunt as he  got out of bed, glaring in the direction of the Italian who was whistling as he got dressed in his robes. “Can’t you be grumpy in the morning like normal people?”

“Can’t believe I’m saying this –“ Draco came walking out of the shower, a towel around his waist, catching Harry’s attention just a tad too long, “but I agree with Potter.”

“Close your mouth before you catch flies.” Blaise said amused, flicking Harry’s forehead lightly as the raven haired boy closed his mouth again.

“I must be still dreaming –“ he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with hands before looking back at Draco.

“I know I’m hot Potter, but I surely hope I don’t appear in your dreams.” Draco replied as he got dressed.

Like an old habit, both Harry and Blaise’s eyes turned towards Theo’s bed, where the boy – less pale than the night before but still as quiet – was seated. Under normal circumstances, this would be the time when Theo would pipe in a joke about Harry’s secret relationship with Draco. However, today it seemed as if the boy had locked himself inside his own head as he didn’t even look in their direction.

“You joining us for breakfast, mate?” Draco asked, now fully dressed as he walked towards Theo.

The brunet didn’t answer immediately, and for a moment Harry thought he would ignore Draco’s question. However, after a minute or so, the young Nott heir finally gave Draco his reply.

“You can go without me, I have an appointment with Madam Pomfrey.” That being said, he got up from his bed and walked out, leaving his friends alone with their worries.

“Are you planning on getting dressed, Potter?” Draco eventually asked, taking in the half naked boy who was still seated on his bed. “Don’t thing you have the body to just join us like that.”

“Oh, fuck off you twat!” Harry huffed, getting out of bed and grabbing his robes. He didn’t put in as much effort as his two classmates – something he knew Daphne would be fussing over once she saw the state he was in – but he was too tired to really care.

By the time the boys made it into the great hall, Daphne and Hermione were already seated at the Slytherin table, timetables in their hands.

“I didn’t know you picked Muggle studies after all?” Blaise said, raising his brow as he looked over Hermione’s shoulder to her the piece of paper she had in her hand.

Shuffling to the side so he could sit down next to her, Hermione shrugged her shoulders as she replied.

“Last minute decision. Turns out Malfoy is taking four extra curriculars and I didn’t feel like being inferior to him.

“You Gryffindors and your pride.” Daphne said, rolling her eyes slightly. She was seated across from Hermione and smiled at Harry and Draco who flanked her on both sides before digging into their breakfast. “No Theodore?”

“He had an appointment with Pomfrey,” Harry reassured the girl, grabbing some bacon pancakes and maple syrup, before accepting his timetable from Daphne.

“You still have to beat my grades, Granger.” Draco said, not bothering to look up from his plate filled with yoghurt, green apple pieces and honey as he stated that simple fact.

“I wish you good luck with beating mine,” the Gryffindor retorted without any menace in her voice. It had been a while since these two had actually been at each other’s throat.

“Looks like we have a free hour while you two can go be sweats in Muggle Studies and Divination.” Blaise grinned, as he spotted the free period on his timetable. That was something to put him in a good mood, really.

Just then , Hagrid arrived at the Great hall, spotting the gang at their usual spot and walking over with a big grin plastered on his face, absentmindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand – something that made Daphne push the remainder of her breakfast away.

“All right?” He asked the gang eagerly as he paused at their table. “Yer all in my fir’ ever lesson ‘xcept you, Daphne! Right after lunch! Bin up since five getting’ everything ready… hope it’s OK… me, a teacher! Honestly…”

“I’m sure you’ll do great, Hagrid!” Daphne said, smiling back at the big man. “I’m sure these lot will do everything in their power to make your first lesson a success!”

Hagrid grinned broadly at them before he headed off to the staff table, the polecat still swinging in his hand.

“Makes you wonder what he’s been getting ready,” Draco mumbled, a note of anxiety clear in his voice as he followed the big man with his eyes, the dead animal still swinging in his hand.

.              .              .              .              .              .              .

With none of his friends having Divination with him, Draco joined Crabbe and Goyle as they made their way over toward the North Tower – a journey that took them surprisingly long. After two years at Hogwarts, this was the first time the young Malfoy heir had been in the North Tower, which meant he was still searching for the quickest way to get there.

By the time they reached the landing at the seventh staircase, Crabbe and Goyle were panting heavily. Draco thanked his Quidditch training for being so good in shape, because looking like those two idiots quite frankly meant he wouldn’t wanna be seen at all.

His sense of direction impeccable, it didn’t take long for Draco to figure out where they had to go. Eventually finding yet another flight of stairs – this time narrow and spiral. Leaving his two goons behind, Draco was the first to reach the tiny landing upstairs. It appeared there were no doors of off this landing, which made Draco’s eyes wander upwards, where he spotted a circular trap door, a brass plaque on top of it. It seemed he’d be taught by a certain Sybill Trelawney.

Knowing his families, Draco recognised the Trelawney name. His mother had once educated him on Cassandra Trelawney, a legendary seer who had done many prophecies back in her days. He wondered if this one could live up to the name, otherwise the class would be a joke. The only reason he had taken this class was because of his mother anyway. She had told him that wizards with his power, often also had some degree of the eye.

By the time the last students entered the landing – which had started to appear quite cramped – the trapdoor finally opened, a silver ladder descending right in the middle of the landing at Weasley’s feet.

Impatiently, Draco stalked past Weasley and his friends, climbing the stairs so he could get himself the best seat. He emerged into the weirdest-looking classroom he had ever seen – if this could even be called a classroom at all. There were at least twenty small, circular tables crammed inside there like the students had been crammed on the landing, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat looking pouffes. The heavy perfume hit Draco in the face as he made his way past the in dark red scarves covered lamps, finding himself a spot as far away as possible from the fire. This reminded him of what the attic of the Weasley’s must be like – crammed with cheap and useless stuff that no one really needed.  

Flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, Draco watched the rest of the class assemble, talking in whispers as they searched the room for their Professor. He sensed her before he heard her, his eyes turning towards the shadows.

“Welcome,” the voice that spoke sounded misty, as if she had spend too much time up here, “How nice to see you in the physical world at last.”

As the source of the voice finally stepped into the light, Draco scrunched his nose at what he saw. She looked like an insect with those jampot glasses magnifying her eyes to several times their natural size, and the gauzy spangled shawl that was draped around her. She was thin and he wondered how a figure as unhealthy looking as hers could keep standing with the innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck and with the encrusted bangles and rings covering her arms and fingers. Not a great first impression if you asked him.

“Sit, my children, sit!” she said, watching as the students awkwardly climbed into armchairs or sank onto the pouffes. Not feeling like having his grades being pulled down by the two stupid goons that had been following him around, Draco joined Gordon McAdam at a table. Gordon was one of his housemates that he never really spoke with. No time as the present to change that, at least during these classes.

“McAdam,” he greeted the boy with a small nod of his head.

“Malfoy,” the boy mirrored his actions, some of his brown curls falling in his face. Draco could hear the thick Scottish accent as he said his name. “Not with ya mates?”

“Dumb and dumber?” Draco rolled his eyes as he looked in their direction, spotting how the two idiots were laughing at something the professor had said. Draco had missed it, and quite frankly couldn’t care less for the idiocy that she was selling anyway. “I prefer people with some brain capacity when I’m in class.”

“Can’t blame ya,” the brunette said, his eyes following Draco’s towards Crabbe and Goyle. “Don’t know how you deal with ‘em half the time.”

“Just zone them out, really.” He shrugged, realising they must’ve missed something important, judging by the fact that everyone was getting off their seats.

Longbottom managed to break whatever he was grabbing from the table, and Draco rolled his eyes. That boy was a danger to himself and everyone around him really. As Professor Trelawney told him to pick up one of the blue ones instead, Draco inquired with Pansy what exactly they had to do.

“Really, Drake, I’d expect you to pay more attention.” She scoffed, informing him about how they were going to read tea dregs. She made sure he was up to date on the method, so by the time Draco and Gordon had their cups filled, both boys knew what was expected of them.

The scalded tea tasted vile – as if it had been up here for way too long, which probably was the case. Opening his book on page five and six, Draco handed his dreg over towards Gordon, who swapped it with his. Without waiting for his classmate to say anything, Draco observed the patterns in front of him.

“I see some sort of bird,” Draco muttered, his eyes gazing over his pages to find the meaning, “which means good luck.” His eyes seized up the boy next to him, who grinned and let his eyes drift over towards some girls a few tables further. Rolling his eyes he twisted the cup in his hand so he could continue reading it. It wasn’t that he particularly cared for the subject, but he knew his parents would expect him to exceed at this subject, meaning that Draco actually would have to try and participate in class, how boring and useless it was. “I also see a horseshoe –“ Draco’s eyes once again checked the pages and he sighed, figured… “Might as well ask the girl out, according to this you will have good luck on that area. Why don’t you do mine now.” He was done with the whole thing, and wanted to hear some good news himself. Too bad Gordon wasn’t exactly the best at this whole business.

“Let me see that, dear,” Trelawney snatched the cup out of Gordon’s hands after five minutes of him not being able to make anything out of it. Draco noticed how the whole classroom went quiet and focussed on his cup, something he welcomed with a smirk. This is how he liked it, attention on him. “My, my – a coffin, meaning sickness or death of a loved one,” Draco’s eyes squinted together as he seized up Trelawney, he wasn’t pleased with where this was going. “A saw, which indicates trouble from strangers. This really isn’t a happy cup, ma boy.” Draco rolled his eyes at what the old hag was saying. If you asked him she was just making stuff up to be dramatic.

His classmates had come to surround his and Gordon’s table, all wanting to have a peak at Draco’s cup.

“The skull – danger is on your path.” Professor Trelawney gave the cup a final turn, before gasping violently and then letting out a scream. Somewhere in the room, Draco heard the tinkling of yet another piece of China breaking at Longbottom’s hands as Trelawney heaved herself down on one of the pouffes, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed. “My dear boy – my poor dear boy – no – it is kinder not to say – no – don’t ask me …”

“What is it, Professor?” Pansy asked with a small voice, peering over the Professor’s shoulder so she could get a good look at Draco’s cup.

“My dear,” Trelawney’s huge eyes opened dramatically, “you have the Grim.”

Draco’s mouth fell open in surprise. Did she actually just say that? The gasps and faint whines told him she had. She literally had just told him he was going to die. Who did this witch think that she was that she told him – Draco Malfoy – that he was going to die?! The audacity this woman had. He would make sure his father would hear about this, and that proper measures would be taken. He was actually fuming, grabbing his stuff and putting it in his bag without giving anyone a second glance, storming out off the tower straight to the library, leaving his classmates behind in surprise.

.              .              .              .              .              .              .

With Hermione and Draco gone for their lesson, Daphne, Harry and Blaise were left by themselves. It was the first day of school, which meant they didn’t have any homework yet, and with the September sun out shining bright and warming up the castle grounds, the three of them decided to spend their free period out at the Black Lake, under one of the willows. It was nice that the rain from the day before seemed to be long forgotten.

“You think we should go check up on Theo?” Daphne asked worried. The blonde girl was currently seated on Harry’s cloak, which the boy had offered her when he saw her scrunched up nose as she looked down at the ground. Daphne was raised to become a proper pureblood witch, and getting dirty didn’t fit with that image.

“We could –“ Blaise said thoughtfully, “But I think he might just want some peace and quiet. He didn’t really seem in the mood for any company this morning. And you know rest is the best medicine when you are ill.” The Italian reasoned with his friends.

Harry nodded in agreement.

“Blaise is right,” he started, looking away from the leave he was floating upwards with his wand, “Theo just needs some rest, and in a few days he’s gonna be himself again!”

“Can we at least check up on him over lunch? Make sure he gets something to eat?” Daphne asked, biting her bottom lip as she fret with Harry’s cloak.

“Of course, M’lady.” Harry said with a big smile, before bringing his attention back to the leave he was enchanting, oblivious to the shade of crimson that coloured Daphne’s cheeks. It was a habit he had started to develop over summer with Ella, and it had slipped out without him even noticing. Still tired, it was tough for Harry to keep his attention on what Daphne and Blaise were saying, and when he saw a very familiar blond guy storm towards them, face all flushed and hair a mess, he wondered for a moment if this was a dream. No way that classes had ended already, they only had just started, right?

“Draco, mate what’s up?” Blaise asked, just as surprised to see the blond storm over towards them as his friends were.

“That old hag told me I was going to die. She dared to say that about ME!” Draco started his rant about divination class, throwing in insults as he went on. eventually, after his friends had listened quietly to him yelling for over five minutes, he ended his rant in a huff. “She claims she’s all this but she is nothing but a fraud!”

“Well – that sounds like quite the interesting lesson you had there, Draco…” Daphne said, looking at her friend with her head slightly cocked to the side as she tried to figure out how to continue.

“You’d expect me to get a premonition like that –“ Harry didn’t seem as impressed as his friends were by the whole rant from Draco. After all, living at the Dursley’s had learned him a thing or two about yelling and stuff. “I’d like to thank you for your service to take that burden upon you.” He said, grinning widely at the blond. “Accept this leaf as a sign of my gratitude.”

Draco – crumpling up the leaf Harry had just handed him, rolled his eyes at the antics of the Raven haired boy, mumbling under his breath of how much of an idiot he was.

“Sounds to me like she’s a tad loco, man.” Blaise said with a shrug of his shoulders, getting up from the ground and offering Daphne his hand to help her off. “Don’t let it ruin your day. It’s a whole lot of Griffin shit.”

Draco huffed once again, arms crossed in front of his body as he tapped the ground impatiently.

“If anyone stares at me like I’m going to die this next hour I will hex someone,” his eyes shot towards Harry who mockingly started saying some prayers for Draco’s ‘poor soul’. “And I think I know who I’m hexing too.”

The four of them made their way towards transfiguration, to their surprise spotting Theo and Hermione awkwardly next to each other.

“Good to see you up and ready for class, man!” Harry said, oblivious to the awkwardness, “glad to see you won’t just give the win to Hermione without a fight.” He gently patted his shoulder, frowning when he noticed his friend flinch back, suspicion rising. Children who flinched often had a very good reason to do so, and he didn’t like any of the possibilities why Theo suddenly showed that kind of behaviour.

“How was muggle studies?” Blaise and Daphne inquired Hermione.

“It was very inaccurate actually,” the girl said with a frown, shaking her head lightly. “What with divination?” Her eyes travelled towards Draco who’s was currently focussed on Pansy and Millicent who kept sending worried looks his way.

“A big clutch. Already regret having taken it.” The blond  grunted, moving past her as he settled down in the back of the classroom that just had opened.

Hermione pulled up a brow, looking at her friends to explain.

“He got told he is going to die.” Blaise explained, following his friend inside and sitting down next to him.

Hermione, taking the seat next to Blaise and being flanked by Daphne on the other side, rolled her eyes at that.

“Sounds like a clutch to me then.” She shook her head. As if Malfoy would be dying. The prat was in nothing but good health.

Theo and Harry took a seat on the other side of Draco, which led to the unusual scenario of Harry being next to the young Malfoy heir. The later one was so worked up over the glances he was getting by all his classmates that he didn’t even care about it, too busy glaring at everyone who dared to look his way.

Even McGonagall noticed something was up. She was telling them about Animagi – witches and wizards who could transform themselves into animals – and only got an applause from the last row – excluding Draco and Theo – when she turned into a tabby cat with spectacles and back.

“Really, what has gotten into you all today?” She asked, looking around the class. “Not that it matters, but that’s the first time my transformation got this little enthusiasm from a class.”

Everybody’s heads turned – once again – towards Draco and Hermione rose her hand, rolling her eyes at the behaviour of her classmates.

“Please Professor, they just had their first Divination class and –“

“Ah, of course,” Professor McGonagall interrupted Hermione, suddenly frowning. “There is no need to say any more, miss Granger. Tell me, which one of you will be dying this year?”

The whole class stared at her, until eventually:

“Me,” Draco’s voice sounded clear and uninterested.

“I see,” the professor fixed the young Malfoy heir with her beady eyes. “Then you should know, Mr Malfoy, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year ever since she set foot in this school. None of them have died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues –“ Professor McGonagall broke off, her nostrils having gone white. It took her a moment before she went on, more calmly. “Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney…” The group of Slytherins and Hermione waited patiently for her to continue, only to be let down when she didn’t finish that sentence. Instead, she continued in a matter-of-fact tone: “You look in excellent health to me, Mr Malfoy, so you will have to excuse me for not letting you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not to hand it in.”

That made not only Hermione, but her Slytherin friends laugh out loud. It only proved what they had been thinking all along, that the witch was nothing but a fraud really. Not everyone seemed as convinced though, and they heard quite a few students mutter their doubts about what McGonagall had stated, a certain broken cup coming up more than once.

By the time the group had survived their first arithmancy class and made it to lunch, McGonagall’s speech had had the intended success, people finally letting Draco alone and not sending glances his way as if he’d fall dead every moment. Daphne and Theo – who’s classes had been finished for the day – bid their friends goodbye by the end of lunch. Theo informed the group that he was going to meet up with Madam Pomfrey, where as Daphne promised them she’s meet them in the library once their classes would be done as well.

“Still can’t believe they’re actually done already, for the day.” Harry whined as the group made their way towards Care of Magical Creatures over the Hogwarts’ grounds.

“Just think of it this way, Harry –“ Hermione panted – it was a long way down to where their class would be held, all the way down the sloping lawns on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and her Slytherin friends had long legs, making it hard for her to keep up – giving Harry an encouraging smile, “you will have a free period while the rest of us are working our ass off in Study of Ancient Runes.”

That news seemed to put Harry in a much better mood. Their little group was the first to arrive at Hagrid’s hut and they waved at the man in question who was stood there nervously as he waited for his class to arrive.

“Ready for today, big man?” Blaise asked, nonchalantly leaning against the wall of Hagrid’s house.

Just as Hagrid was going to reply, the other students started to drip in, leaving the gang without an answer.

“I’m curious what he has in mind for us.” Hermione said, her eyes focussed on the half-giant who was wearing his regular moleskin overcoat. Fang was standing at his heels, looking impatient to start.

“Knowing him, it won’t be Flobberworms.”

Hermione’s eyes shot towards the young Malfoy heir as she tried to figure out if it were meant as an insult or was a genuine observation.  

“He was carrying a dead polecat around earlier, that doesn’t sound like Flobberworms to me.” Blaise agreed, “maybe he fixed with the Weasley that we can see some dragons.” His grin only faltered when Hermione slapped him on the arm, “Oi madwoman, stop harassing me. That was funny!”

“C’mon now, get a move on!” Hagrid called for them as the class approached. “Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin’ up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!”

As Hagrid started strolling past the edge of the forest, Hermione finally replied to Blaise.

“We wouldn’t mention that ever again.” She hissed, her eyes darting towards Weasley and his friends who walked a few feet in front of them. So far, Weasley hadn’t bothered them yet, which was a record all in itself.

They reached a small paddock at the edge of the forest, but there were no magical beasts in side just yet.

“Everyone gather round the fence here!” Hagrid called, the gang following his lead. Harry ended up in between Draco and Blaise, squeezed as every student tried to get as good as a look as possible. “That’s it – make sure yeh can see. Now firs’ thing yeh’ll want ter do is open yer books –“

“And how exactly are we supposed to do that?” Draco looked at Hagrid as his drawling voice sounded over the paddock.

“Eh?” Hagrid looked confused.

“How do we open our books?” Draco repeated as he got his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters out of his backpack, a length rope keeping it shut.

The other students took theirs out too, some, like Harry and Blaise, had belted their book shut; others, like Hermione, had opted for Spellotape.

“Hasn’ – hasn’ anyone bin able ter open their books?” Hagrid asked, looking crestfallen.

“Hagrid, we were too busy trying to keep them shut,” Blaise said, a tad apologetic.

“It is quite hard to read them when they’re trying to bite your fingers of,” Hermione mumbled softly, giving Hagrid an awkward smile.

“Yeh’ve got ter stroke ‘em,” said Hagrid, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Look …”

Draco – who was standing closest to Hagrid – had his copy taken out of his hands. Hagrid removed the rope, and even though the book tried to bite him, he ignored it and ran his giant forefinger down its spine. The book shivered and then fell open an lay quiet in his hand.

“Wonder why we didn’t come up with that…” Draco mumbled as he accepted his book back with a small curtesy nod.

“I – I thought they were funny,” Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.

“It did get a good giggle out of me when it chased the dog.” Blaise reassured Hagrid with two thumbs up.

Hermione gave him a grateful smile. It hurt her to see the big man that insecure. He really just wanted to be a good teacher in the end and she knew that every single one of them – even Malfoy, although he didn’t show it – wanted the man to have a successful first class. Why else would Malfoy be biting his tongue right now? Not a single biting comment had left his lips, he had – instead – stuck to sarcasm.

“Well – now yeh know how te get yeh books open, yeh need te get some magical creatures. So I’ll go an’ get ‘em. Hang on…” Hagrid said, shortly disappearing out of view.

“This promises,” Weasley mumbled from under his breath, shaking his head as he removed the belt from his book and opened it to the right page.

“Ooooooh!”  squealed Lavender Brown, pointing towards the opposite side of the paddock.

Trotting towards them were a dozen of the bizarre creatures that Harry had ever seen. However, where Harry found the creatures bizarre, Hermione found them the most beautiful creatures she had ever seen, and Blaise found them the most majestic. The creatures had the bodies, hind legs and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings and heads were those of what seemed to be an eagle. Their eyes were brilliantly orange and their cruel beaks were the colour of steel. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Each and every single one of the creatures had a leather collar around their neck, which was attached to a long chain. The end of all these chains were held by Hagrid in his vast hands, as he came jogging into the paddock behind them.

The class collectively took a step back from the fence – even though Hermione had to pull Blaise back slightly to keep him moving – as Hagrid tethered them to the fence.

“Hippogriffs!” The half-giant screamed in glee, waving a hand at them, “Beautiful aren’t they!”

Harry – who had gotten over his first initial shock of seeing a half-bird, half-horse creature – finally started to see what Hagrid meant. They were indeed beautiful creatures, and he admired the way their feathers genuinely went over into hair. Each and every single one of them had a different colour as well; there was one that was a dark and shiny black, a pinkish roan, there was a stormy grey one, and a gleaming chestnut one.

Blaise was the first to take a step closer as Hagrid asked them to, listening tentatively to his explanation. Harry couldn’t recall any other time he had seem that interested in something, information he filed away to question him about later. He brought his attention back to Hagrid who was explaining to them how Hippogriffs were proud creatures who took very badly to insults. They kind of reminded Harry of Slytherins really. Especially when Hagrid said that you had to let them do the first move.

‘It’s polite, see? Yeh walk towards him, and bow, an’ yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh’re allowed ter touch him. If he doesn’t bow, then get away from him sharpish, cause those talons hurt.” Hagrid paused a moment for them to let it sink in. “Right – who wants ter go first?”

Most of the class backed even further away, but at the front, mesmerised by one of the creatures, Blaise stood still.

“I’ll do it, big man.” He said full of confidence.

There was an intake of breath as the girls – both Slytherin and Gryffindor – looked in awe at Blaise who didn’t seem bothered by the creatures at all.

“Be careful –“ Hermione mumbled softly as Blaise climbed over the fence into the paddock.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll be just fine,” he gave her a quick wink as he joined Hagrid who proudly slapped him on the shoulder.

“Good man, Blaise!” He roared, “let’s see how yeh get on with Buckbeak.”

Hagrid untied the grey Hippogriff and pulled it away from his friends before slipping off his leather collar. Blaise could tell that his fellow students were either holding their breaths – amongst them for sure Hermione – while others were squinting their eyes – like Draco who obviously thought he was being idiot – but he managed to block them out.

“Easy now, Blaise –” Hagrid said quietly, “yeh’ve got eye contact, now try not ter blink – Hippogriffs don’t trust yeh if yeh blink too much…”

Blaise could feel his eyes starting to water, but he followed Hagrid’s instructions closely. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head towards Blaise, his fierce orange eye boring into Blaise’s.

“Tha’s it,’ Hagrid exclaimed, “tha’s it, Blaise … now, bow, …”

He knew it was more of a courtesy than a bow, since his self-preservation honestly wasn’t too keen on exposing his neck to the fierce animal, but he did it anyway. His bow was short and quick, allowing him to look back up at the creature within seconds. Buckbeak gave him a haughty stare before – to everyone’s enormous surprise – suddenly bending its scaly front knees, sinking into something that was unmistakeably a bow.

“Well done, Blaise!” Hagrid sounded ecstatic as he complimented the Italian, “right – yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!”

Blaise was proud of himself. He had not only gathered the approval from Buckbeak, but as he looked over his shoulder, allowing his hand to pet the beak a few times, he could see the proud – and slightly jealous – looks of his classmates. He grinned as the class started to applaud for him, turning his attention back to the Hippogriff who lazily closed its eyes as he scratched him behind his ear.

“You’re such a beautiful creature-“ he murmured to Buckbeak.

“Right then, Blaise,” Hagrid beamed, “I reckon he migh’ let yeh ride him.”

This was even better than Blaise had hoped it would go. He loved riding his broom outside, but actually being allowed to fly on a Hippogriff? Ella would love to hear stories about that. He’d have to ask Hagrid if he could take a picture of him at some point to gift to the little girl. He followed Hagrid’s instructions, placing his foot on top of Buckbeak’s wing as he hoisted himself onto its back, carefully trying not to rip out any feathers. Taking in his view, he gave Hermione a cocky wink before being surprised by Hagrid slapping the Hippogriff’s rear-end.

His mother taking him horse riding in Italy payed off as he gripped onto the creature tight with his legs, settling into the rhythm of Buckbeak’s wings beating up and down on either side of him. It thrilled him, being up there in the air, having his life lay in the hands of such a majestic beast, its glossy feathers catching the rays of sunshine and reflecting them back. He had to admit it was still different to riding horses, seeing that he was miles up in the air now, flying circles over the paddock and the lake, having to move his hips as to not being throw off with the hindquarters of the Hippogriff rising and falling as he flew them around. Too soon it was time to land again, and as Blaise lend back he spotted his friends standing over at the fence. As Buckbeak’s four ill-assorted feet hit the ground, Blaise grinned ecstatically.

“Good work, Blaise,” Hagrid roared as his classmates applauded once again. “Okay, who else wants a go?”

It seemed that Blaise’s success had given the other students the courage they needed to climb into the paddock themselves. As Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, Blaise made his way over towards his friends.

“That was so cool!” Hermione cheered, giving him a big hug as he approached.

“Pretty impressive mate,” Harry said, clapping him on the shoulder.

“I’d like to go next.” Draco stated, giving Blaise an encouraging clap on the shoulder himself as he followed the steps dutifully just as Blaise had done. Soon enough, he as well could pet the Hippogriff on the beak, grinning at his friends. “Come on, Potter, you try.” He dared the raven haired boy as he waited next to Buckbeak, watching the boy try to do as told.

Their little group seemed to be doing much better than some other students, and more than once, Hermione felt herself being startled by Neville who had to run back, seeing that his Hippogriff wasn’t impressed by his bows at all.

As Harry had managed to get to petting the creature himself, it was only Hermione left. She didn’t seem to feel as comfortable as the boys around it. After all, this were living creatures they were working with – they weren’t as reliable as a book. But with a bit of guidance from Blaise, she eventually tried anyway.

“Come on, remember, try not to blink, Mione.” Blaise encouraged her, doing the steps with her.

It was obvious that Buckbeak sensed her uncertainty, taking the longest to bow back for her, but when he eventually did, the four of them all smiled in glee.

“Seems like we finally found a subject we can beat you in, Granger.” Draco teased the brunette, giving her a playful grin.

Their relationship had changed a lot over the years, and as Harry watched his friends interact, he had to admit he didn’t think he’d ever see the day that Hermione and Draco would be joking around with each other – the least of all with a gigantic beast in between them. If he had to put one word on Hagrid’s lesson, he had to say it was successful the least.

.              .              .              .              .              .              .

They were the last ones to leave the paddock, Blaise insisting on helping Hagrid to put the Hippogriffs away again before the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws would have their lesson with him. Hermione had grown fond of the creatures, offering her help as well, leaving Harry – who was seated on the fence, watching his friends walk the creatures off – and Draco – who was leaning against the fence – all by themselves.

“Must say I’m pleasantly surprised by his class.” Draco stated, looking at the forest on their right. “The fact no one died or got injured – it went a lot better than I’d expected it to go.”

“It’s not too late to let your prophecy come true, you know Malfoy.” Harry said, looking over his shoulder towards the blonde boy stood next to him.

“It was a compliment, Potter,” he huffed. “No need to get your knickers all in a twist.”

“Might wanna work on delivering those compliments –”

He knew Harry was still talking to him, but something at the edge of the forest had caught his attention. Zoning out whatever the Potter boy was saying, his eyes focussed on the movement of something in the bushes in front of him. He got up from the fence, curiosity getting the best of him, and he approached them carefully.

“Draco, what are you doing, man?” Harry had noticed how the young Malfoy heir had left his side, and looking over his shoulder he saw him approach the bushes. His question caught the blond’s attention, and as he looked over his shoulder the thing that had been moving the bushes decided to jump out, pushing the Malfoy heir to the ground as he let out a startled yelp. Harry himself toppled off the fence into the dirt, pulling his wand out the moment he got up, ready to defend his friend from the black creature that had attacked his friend, only to notice just who it was.

“Get it off!” Draco yelped, trying to push the black mut that was licking his face off of him.

“Padfoot, get off!” Harry ordered, the black dog releasing the Malfoy heir from his grasp and happily wagging his tail as he sat down at Harry’s feet, begging for a scratch behind his ear.

“I’m assuming the mut is yours?” Draco grumbled. For a moment he had thought Trelawney might’ve been right after all. When the black dog had jumped him – he had been prepared to die. The wet tongue had not been what he had expected to hit his face at all.

“Yeah- it’s Padfoot.” He said, scratching the dog behind his ears.

“What’s he doing here?” Blaise and Hermione had approached the two of them, spotting the dog at his feet. “You might wanna cover him up with the invisibility cloak –”

“You brought it, right?” Hermione asked him, scratching the dog behind its ear herself as she raised a brow at Draco’s state.

“Don’t even ask, Granger.” He huffed, not pleased with her inquisitive stare at all. “Are you actually gonna sneak that mut into the castle?”

Padfoot barked, insulted by the way Draco talked about him. He gave him as much of a glare as a dog was capable off. Draco frowned, taking in the dog a bit better. Something was off, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“I brought it yeah – Theo would cuss me out if I didn’t.” Harry pulled out his cloak, covering up the dog just in time for Hagrid to join them.

“Thanks for yeh help, kids.” He said, giving them a bright smile. “Now get yeh self of to dinner.”

The students walked off, hiding the dog in their middle, talking quietly on how to act next. They were uncertain, not knowing what to do. If it were up to Draco, Padfoot would be left outside, and they – or well, anyone but him – could bring him food or whatever; he still hadn’t forgiven the dog from ruining his cloak by jumping him. Harry on the other hand, was strictly against leaving him outside; he wanted to take him with them to the common room, hide him there. Blaise and Hermione both didn’t feel like leaving the dog outside, but especially Hermione was worried what would happen if they would get caught. What if they got expelled? They had enough to worry about already without having to hide a dog…

“Why don’t you two bring him to your common room –” Hermione eventually stated, “and me and Blaise will write a letter to Fina, asking her what we should do?”

Without anything better in mind, the group decided to split up and take to the help of Fina for this matter.


End file.
